tihtary  of  Che  theological  ^tminavy 

PRINCETON   .   NEW  JERSEY 


PRESENTED  BY 

Edwin   L.    Schellina: 


o 


With  Compliments  of 

The  Joint  Commission  on 
A  Nation -Wide  Preaching  Mission 


The  Manual  \% 

A  NATION-WIDE 
PREACHING  MISSION 


Issued  by  the 

Commission  on  a 
/      Nation -Wide  Preaching  Mission 


Published  for  the  Commission  by 

The  Young  Churchman  Company 

Milwaukee,  Wisconsin 


COPYRIGHT  BY 

THE  YOUNG  CHURCHMAN  CO. 

1915 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

Foreword -      vii 

A  Call  to  thk  Whole  Church    -----        i 

A  Crisis  and  an  Opportunity.    Eev.  James  E. 

Freeman,  D.D.       - 5 

Preparation    for    the    Mission.     Rev.    L.    B. 

Richards .     -     -       14 

Publicity.     Allen  D.   Albert    ------      25 

Preaching    and    Sermons.      The    Bishop    of 

Springfield    -----------       33 

The    Missioner's    Message.     Rev.    Floyd    W. 

Tomkins,  D.D.       ---------       43 

A  Parish  Programme.  Rev.  James  E.  Free- 
man, D.D. 54 

Suggestions  for  a  Mission.     The  Bishop  of 

Fond  du  Lac .     -     .      72 

The  Mission  as  Related  to  Rural  Conditions. 

The  Bishop  of  Wyoming    ------       81 

The  Layman's  Contribution.  George  Whar- 
ton Pepper  ---- -       91 

The  Preaching  Mission  and  Religious  Educa- 
tion.    Rev.  William  E.  Gardner,  D.D.     -     104 

Mission  Music.     Stanley  R.  Avery    -    -    -    -     126 

Appendix.       Prayers     for     the     Nation-wide 

Preaching  Mission 134 


FOREW^ORD 

AN   endeavor  has  been  made  in  compiling  this 
manual  to  have  the  chapters  deal  with  the  vital 
and  practical  questions  that  are  related  to  the 
order  and  conduct  of  a  preaching  mission. 

Social  Service  and  Religious  education  hold  a 
conspicuous  place  in  the  modern  programme  of  the 
Christian  Church,  hence  any  propaganda  that  con- 
templates a  presentation  of  the  Gospel  call,  must 
recognize  their  validity  and  importance.  Several 
widely  experienced  missioners  were  asked  to  submit 
to  the  Church  such  practical  methods  as  they  them- 
selves had  tested  and  tried,  and  the  harmony  of  the 
general  plan  submitted  is  an  evidence  of  its  efficiency 
and  large  flexibility  and  adaptability.  Each  one  sev- 
erally of  these  workers  presents  his  own  tested  plan, 
together  with  practical  suggestions  as  to  themes, 
texts,  etc.;  the  hope  of  the  Commission  being,  that 
out  of  so  varied  and  yet  singularly  coordinated 
views  the  clergy  of  our  Church  might  develop  a  pro- 
gramme in  consonance  with  their  own  individual 
and  local  conditions  and  needs.  In  submitting  this 
manual,  it  is  the  Commission's  earnest  hope  that  it 
may  prove  of  real  value  beyond  the  needs  of  the 
present  hour. 


A  CALL  TO  THE  WHOLE  CHURCH 

AT  the  General  Convention  of  1913,  the  fol- 
lowing resolution  was  adopted : 

Whereas,  Our  age  calls  in  no  uncertain  way  for 
a  revival  of  the  prophetic  ministry,  and  a  reemphasis 
upon  the  certain  and  unchanging  words  of  eternal 
truth  that  pertain  to  salvation ;  and 

Whereas,  A  new  accent  needs  to  be  placed  upon 
the  essential  solidarity,  as  well  as  the  broad  catho- 
licity of  a  Church  that  witnesses  to  and  seeks  to 
promote  faith  and  order ;  therefore  be  it 

Resolved,  the  House  of  Bishops  concurring, 
That  this  Church  in  General  Convention  assembled 
registers  its  desire  and  will  to  undertake  a  preach- 
ing mission  of  nation-wide  proportions,  that  in  its 
scope  shall  be  inclusive  of  the  Church  at  large,  and 
whose  sole  purpose  and  aim  shall  be  the  salvation 
of  men  through  Him  whose  Name  is  above  every 
name. 

Since  the  above  action  was  taken,  the  grave 
conditions  produced  throughout  the  world  by  the 
general  European  war  have  made  it  more  evi- 
dent to  the  Commission  that  at  the  earliest  pos- 
sible moment  the  plan  for  a  Nation-wide  Preach- 
ing Mission  should  be  put  into  effect.  The 
psychological  time   for   such   a  mission  is  the 


2         A  NATION-WIDE   PREACHING  MISSION 

approaching  Advent.*  The  Commission  recog- 
nizes the  difficulty  of  creating,  through  a  central 
agency,  such  machinery  as  would  accomplish 
the  largest  results.  It  believes,  however,  that 
the  Bishops,  clergy,  and  laity  of  the  Church 
in  the  dioceses  throughout  the  country,  might, 
without  much  difficulty,  create  local  diocesan 
committees  and,  through  a  widespread  system 
of  exchanges,  supplemented  by  such  additional 
noonday  and  other  special  Advent  preachers  as 
are  usually  secured  for  the  larger  centres,  to- 
gether with  the  cooperation  of  all  the  Bishops, 
effect  simultaneously  throughout  the  Church  a 
preaching  mission  of  incalculable  value. 

If  a  period  covering  a  portion  of  the  Advent 
season  could  be  given  over  to  such  a  nation- 
wide preaching  movement  the  unity  of  such  an 
action  would,  we  believe,  result  in  a  deep  and 
far-reaching  religious  awakening  within  the 
Church.  ;N'ow  as  never  before  we  need  to  hear 
and  heed  the  Master's  call  to  a  great  service. 
ISTow  as  never  before  we  need  to  accent  the  soli- 
darity and  unity  of  our  Church.  In  confidence 
that  the  hour  for  such  action  is  imminent  we 
beg  to  commend  to  the  Bishops,  clergy,  and 
laity  the  following  course  of  action,  with  such 


*  Since  this  Call  was  issued  the  Commission  has  sug- 
gested the  extension  of  the  time  to  include  the  Epiphany 
and  Lenten  seasons. 


A  CALL  TO  THE  WHOLE  CHURCH  3 

modifications  or  adaptations  as  in  their  judg- 
ment and  that  of  the  local  diocesan  committees 
may  seem  wise: 

a — That  a  E'ation-wide  Preaching  Mission 
be  undertaken  for  a  period  of  two  weeks 
at  the  beginning  of  the  approaching 
Advent  season."^ 
b — That  the  Bishops  of  the  Church  be  re- 
quested to  call  together  (at  the  earliest 
possible  day)  the  clergy  and  laity  of 
their  respective  dioceses  and  appoint 
local  committees  as  follows: 

1 — Mission  preachers  and  stations. 
2 — Publicity  and  advertising. 
3 — Ways  and  means. 
4 — Mission  literature. 
c — That  an  effort  be  made  through  a  general 
exchange  of  diocesan  and  extra-diocesan 
clergy  to  supply  missioners  at  the  stra- 
tegic points  in  each  diocese, 
d — That    provision    be    made    for    special 
services   in   every   parish    and   that   the 
local  clergy    (where   exchanges   are   im- 
practicable)    be    requested    to    conduct 
daily  preaching  services, 
e — That  pre-Advent  retreats  be  conducted 
for  the  clergy  and  laity. 

*  Since  this  Call  was  issued  the  Commission  has  sug- 
gested the  extension  of  the  time  to  include  the  Epiphany 
and  Lenten  seasons. 


4         A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

Believing  that  the  urgency  of  the  present 
situation  together  with  the  supreme  importance 
of  placing  a  "reemphasis  upon  the  certain  and 
unchanging  words  of  eternal  truth  that  pertain 
to  salvation''  demand  extraordinary  action  on 
the  part  of  the  Church  at  large,  and  praying 
God's  richest  blessing  upon  your  efforts  to  aid 
us  in  effecting  these  important  ends,  we  beg  to 
remain, 

Fraternally  yours, 
David  H.  Greer,  Ernest  M.  Stires, 

Charles  T.  Olmsted,  E.  deE.  Miel, 

Lewis  W.  Burton^,  Roswell  Page, 

R.  H.  Weller,  Charles  A.  Pease, 

Floyd  W.  Tomkins,  George  F.  Henry, 

James  E.  Freeman,  Secretary, 

Commission  on  Nation-wide 
Preaching  Mission. 


A  CRISIS  AND  AN  OPPORTUNITY* 

By  the  Rev.  James  E.  Freemai^^  D.D. 

EUEOPE  has  called  her  sons  to  arms — the 
Church  of  the  living  God  in  America  is 
calling  her  sons  to  a  mighty  campaign  for  the 
souls  of  men  and  the  increase  of  righteousness 
throughout  the  nation.  If  ever  the  searching 
words  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  "Woe  is  me  if  I 
preach  not  the  Gospel/'  had  a  peculiar  signifi- 
cance and  import,  it  is  the  present  time.  Crises 
not  only  develop  men,  they  develop  and  re- 
affirm fundamental  principles.  A  crisis  of  in- 
comprehensible proportions  and  incalculable 
issues  is  upon  the  world,  there  is  a  clarion  call 
heard  round  the  globe,  "Watchman,  what  of  the 
night?"  and  woe  be  to  watchman  and  city  if 
the  watchman  slumbers.     The  very  foundations 

*  The  "Call  to  the  Church"  and  this  paper  by  Dr. 
Freeman  are  published  together  as  an  "Announcement 
Tract"  of  eight  pages  for  distribution  in  parishes,  the 
last  page  blank  for  local  announcements.  Price,  $2.00 
per  hundred.  To  be  obtained  from  The  Young  Church- 
man Co.,  publishers. 


6         A  NATION-WIDE   PREACHINa  MISSION 

themselves  seem  for  the  time  to  be  shifting  and 
the  old  order  changeth. 

Where  is  the  seer  who  can  lift  the  curtain 
and  give  us  visions  of  the  morrow  ?  Upon  what 
basis  is  society,  restless  society  with  all  that 
it  comprehends,  to  be  reorganized  and  recon- 
stituted ? 

Mighty  forces  are  contending  for  suprem- 
acy; even  the  faithful  are  asking  with  impris- 
oned John  the  great  question:  "Art  Thou  He 
that  should  come,  or  do  we  look  for  another?" 

For  decades  past  there  has  been  a  growing 
world-restlessness.  It  has  manifested  itself  in 
every  place  and  under  every  condition  of  life: 
it  has  almost  seemed  to  portend  that  day  when 
men's  hearts  fail  them  for  fear  and  for  looking 
for  those  things  which  are  coming  on  the  earth. 
Is  it  the  dawn  of  that  greater  day  when  all  man- 
kind shall  see  the  "Son  of  man  coming  in  the 
clouds  of  heaven"  ?  Are  we  nearing  the  higher 
fulfilment  of  His  promise  when 

"The  glory  of  the  Lord  shall  cover  the  earth 
As  the  waters  cover  the  sea"  ? 

Of  that  day  the  Master  admonishes  us,  "JSTo 
man  knoweth,"  but  if  ever  it  behooved  the  serv- 
ants of  the  Lord  to  be  ready  for  the  advance 
of  His  Kingdom,  it  is  now.  A  great  hour  has 
struck  and  a  world-crisis  ushers  in  the  Church's 
opportunity-time. 


A  CRISIS  AND  AN  OPPORTUNITY  7 

In  all  humility,  let  us  realize  our  conspicu- 
ous deficiencies  as  well  as  our  acknowledged 
limitations.  This  is  no  time  for  conceit  or 
arrogance;  it  is  a  time  for  deep  humility,  ex- 
haustive self-examination,  and  a  true  conver- 
sion. ^^Behold,  what  manner  of  buildings  and 
what  stones  are  here,"  will  not  save  us  from 
the  condemnation  of  Him  who  declared  to 
a  conceited  age  and  people,  "There  shall  not 
be  left  one  stone  upon  another  that  shall  not 
be  thrown  down."  Buildings  and  mechanisms, 
valuable  as  they  are,  must  be  transfigured  by 
the  revealed  presence  of  Him  who  is  "greater 
than  the  temple."  There  must  come  a  mighty 
revival  of  His  power,  and  that  revival  must 
proceed  through  the  ancient  channels  of  His 
Church. 

If  out  of  the  world's  disorder  is  to  be 
heard  the  clear  voice  of  the  prophet,  challeng- 
ing it  for  its  sins  and  calling  it  to  "behold,  the 
Lamb  of  God  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the 
world,"  the  Church  must  revive  immediately 
its  prophetic  ministry.  A  glorified  altar  must 
have  as  its  essential  complement  an  exalted 
pulpit.  The  proclamation  of  the  gospel  of 
Christ  must  be  a  chief  concern  of  the  ministry. 

Said  a  brilliant  Scotch  essayist :  "God  may 
have  other  words  for  other  worlds,  but  for  this 
world  the  Word  of  God  is  Christ." 

Our   age   is   not   and   has   not   been   distin- 


8         A  NATION-WIDE   PREACHING  MISSION 

guished  for  its  preaching,  and  the  Church  has 
languished.  The  open  vision  of  the  prophet  has 
suffered  an  impairment.  Relegated  to  a  place 
of  unimportance  has  been  this  great  office.  We 
have  looked  askance  at  revivals  as  spectacular 
and  sporadic  attempts  to  produce  artificial  en- 
thusiasm. A  teaching  ministry  that  concerns 
itself  with  the  basic  and  fundamental  things  of 
religion,  upon  which  the  whole  fabric  of  our 
Christian  social  order  rests,  has  been  indiffer- 
ently acknowledged.  The  rush  of  a  fitful  age, 
the  passion  for  new  and  sometimes  fantastic  in- 
novations, the  prosecution  of  exhausting  admin- 
istrative work,  the  active  participation  in  so- 
called  ^^secular  enterprises,"  these,  coupled  with 
our  personal  and  peculiar  conceits,  have  ren- 
dered our  "upper  room''  habit  of  deep  reflection 
and  intimate  intercourse  with  Jesus,  together 
with  the  close  and  persistent  study  of  His  word, 
desultory  and  careless.  The  greater  prophets, 
yes,  and  the  lesser  prophets,  too,  of  every  age, 
who  have  lifted  the  vision  of  men  to  behold 
the  King  in  His  beauty  have  been  they  who  have 
lingered  long  in  the  silences  with  Him,  yes, 
they  who  through  storm  and  night  have  climbed 

"The  world's  great  altar  stairs 
That  slope  through  darkness  up  to  God." 

There  must  come  speedily  a  revival  of  that 
prophetic  ministry  that  has  its  certification  and 


A  CRISIS  AND  AN  OPPORTUNITY  9 

authority  through  a  conscious  indwelling  of  His 
Spirit's  power.  To  quote  again  the  Scotch 
preacher's  word:  ^^Let  our  prophet  come  with 
a  new  mandate  for  the  soul  upon  his  lips,  and 
though  his  speech  be  in  the  dialect  of  the  Gali- 
lean peasant,  the  whole  world  will  hear  him 
gladly."  The  voice  that  has  received  its  power 
and  authority  not  from  men,  but  from  Christ, 
however  humble  its  gifts  and  adornments,  has  a 
message  that  an  attentive  world  waits  to  hear. 

Such  power  and  authority  attend  him  who 
lingers  long  and  devotionally  in  the  presence 
of  his  Lord.  Great  preachers  who  have  a  pas- 
sion for  souls  have  their  audience-room  wher- 
ever men  are  hungry  for  the  bread  of  life. 
This  nation  must  be  saved  for  God. 

Prosperity  will  not  do  it — it  may  destroy 
it.  The  rust  of  our  gold  may  cry  out  against 
us.  The  setting  up  of  vast  mechanisms,  educa- 
tional, industrial,  social  and  political,  these  all 
must  be  made  efficient  and  worthy  through  the 
power  of  a  deep,  sincere,  acknowledged  religious 
faith. 

Let  judgment  begin  at  the  house  of  God; 
yes,  let  it  begin  at  the  firesides  and  in  the 
studies  of  those  who  bear  His  orders  and  ac- 
knowledge His  sovereignty. 

The  fires  must  be  rekindled  upon  the  altars, 
the  ancient  sacrifice  proclaimed,  a  solemn  as- 
sembly called,  the  priests  clothed  with  humility 


10       A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

and  righteousness;  Jesus  Christ  must  be  lifted 
up  above  all  the  man-made  symbols  of  greatness 
and  the  King  in  all  His  glory  must  come  to  His 
temple.  We  wait  for  a  new  heaven  and  a  new 
earth  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness,  and  into 
an  age  pregnant  with  a  new  manifestation 
of  spiritual  power  we  believe  we  are  entering 
now. 

A  ISTation-wide  Preaching  Mission  is  de- 
signed not  to  revive  for  a  brief  space  a  Gospel 
ministry.  It  is  designed  to  place  a  fresh  and 
permanent  accent  upon  the  lofty  ministry  of 
the  pulpit.  If  it  is  to  be  effective  in  reviving 
the  spiritual  life  of  the  Church  and  through 
it  the  spiritual  life  of  the  nation,  it  must  not 
be  spectacular  or  sporadic.  It  is  not  a  move- 
ment, it  is  a  reaffirmed  principle  of  service. 
If  there  must  be  machinery  let  it  be  so  incon- 
spicuous that  it  shall  not  disclose  its  presence. 

There  are  doubtless  gifted  missioners  who 
will  be  available  and  who  must  carry  large 
burdens  in  this  great  undertaking,  but  the 
mission  will  wholly  fail  of  its  purpose  unless 
every  parish  priest  and  every  congregation  is 
enlisted  in  so  great  and  important  a  work. 
To  acknowledge  incompetency  is  to  deny  Him 
and  to  hinder  His  claims.  A  greater  and 
more  vital  fellowship  among  the  clergy  must 
grow  out  of  this  undertaking.  We  are,  no 
matter  what  our  personal  and  peculiar  points 


A  CRISIS  AND  AN  OPPORTUNITY  11 

of  view  may  be,  common  priests  of  a  common 
household  of  faith.  Let  us  banish  distrust  and 
abolish  all  rivalries.  Let  us  silence  all  other 
voices  that  His  voice  may  prevail.  If  our 
splendid  heritage  is  to  be  handed  on  unim- 
paired, we,  its  custodians,  must  hold  it  as  a 
common  trust  to-day.  Standing  as  we  do  as 
exponents  and  promoters  of  faith  and  order, 
we  are  compelled  to  witness  to  them  in  our  own 
body.  What  must  accrue  to  this  larger  con- 
sciousness of  fellowship,  this  strengthening  of 
the  ties  of  a  common  priesthood  and  prophet- 
hood,  is  beyond  our  conjecture. 

Finally,  we  must  in  this  larger  ministry 
remember  that  we  are  watchmen  of  God  to  de- 
tect and  stay  the  threatening  assaults  of  sin. 
Ours  is  a  gospel,  as  Dr.  Van  Dyke  puts  it,  not 
only  for  ^^an  age  of  doubt,"  but  for  "an  age  of 
sin."  A  great  secular  daily  in  editorial  com- 
ment maintains  that  there  is  a  persistent  call 
to-day  for  the  prophet  who  will  fearlessly  com- 
bat sin.  The  righteousness  of  the  Church  is  too 
insular,  it  has  a  broken  or  impaired  contact  with 
market-place  and  home.  We  are  hearing  much 
of  social  and  industrial  righteousness,  of  social 
justice  and  the  relation  of  religion  to  economic 
questions.  A  new  school  of  prophets  is  arising 
to  declare,  not  a  partial,  but  the  "whole  com- 
mandment of  God,"  as  that  commandment  is 
related  to  the  things  of  common  life.     Behind 


12       A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

every  form  of  unrighteousness,  every  wanton  act 
of  injustice,  every  mean  advantage  taken  of  the 
weak,  every  evidence  of  corruption,  wherever 
disclosed,  in  high  places  or  low;  yes,  behind  all 
forms  of  vice  from  fireside  to  mart  of  trade, 
stands  an  unrebuked  and  unashamed  human 
will  that  defies  the  laws  of  Grod  and  man. 

To  save  the  home  from  the  devasting  blight 
of  lightly  esteemed  marital  vows  and  the  curse 
of  divorce;  to  save  commerce  from  selfishness 
and  the  atrophy  of  every  fine  feeling  of  justice 
and  fair  play,  to  recover  the  purity  of  social 
habit,  contaminated  and  debauched  by  indul- 
gences that  are  indecent  and  soul-destroying,  to 
demand  in  every  place  of  public  trust  the  dis- 
charge of  obligations  in  the  interest  of  the  whole 
people;  in  fine,  to  assault  the  entrenched  and 
arrogant  evils  of  our  day  and  to  cleanse,  if  need 
be  with  knotted  cords,  every  precinct  unhallowed 
by  emboldened  vice,  this  is  the  heroic  task  set 
for  the  prophet  who  carries  his  Lord's  creden- 
tials. 

We  are  admonished  by  the  apostle's  words: 
"From  whence  come  wars  and  fightings  among 
you  ?  Come  they  not  hence,  even  of  your  lusts 
that  war  in  your  members  ?"  If  lasting  peace 
is  to  come  to  a  warring  world  it  must  come 
through  the  operation  of  righteousness  and  not 
through  the  cunning  and  skill  of  diplomacy; 


A  CRISIS  AND  AN  OPPORTUNITY  13 

hence  the  supreme  place  of  the  prophet  in  an 
age  of  reckless  daring  and  unbridled  license. 

With  outstretched  hands  stands  the  Saviour, 
calling  to  a  world  intoxicated  with  its  own 
power,  ^'Ye  will  not  come  unto  Me  that  ye 
might  have  life."  The  world  is  confronted 
by  another  Calvary,  but  it  is  not  the  Calvary 
of  the  Christ;  it  is  the  Calvary  whereat  men 
crucify  each  other  because  they  know  not  Him. 
The  Saviourhood  of  Jesus  must  be  the  dominant 
and  supreme  note  of  twentieth  century  preach- 
ing. It  is  a  Saviourhood  that  reaches  to  the 
remotest  concerns  of  men.  We  preach  not  a 
salvation  that  begins  with  the  silence  of  the 
grave,  but  a  salvation  operative  in  human  so- 
ciety now;  yes,  a  salvation  that  underlies  and 
guarantees  Christian  civilization. 

What  a  mighty  and  irresistible  call  it  is 
that  He  utters  to-day! 

Have  we  the  courage  and  the  consecration 
to  answer  its  summons? 


PREPARATION  FOR  THE  MISSION 

By  the  Rev.  L.  B.  Richards 

Secretary  of  the  Atlanta  Diocesan  Committee 
on  the  Nation-wide  Preaching  Mission 

[Reprinted  from  The  Living  Church'] 

AMISSI0:NT/'  says  Father  Bull,  ''is  a  spe- 
cial effort  to  convert  souls  to  God.  It  is  a 
concentration  of  spiritual  effort  upon  one  place 
for  a  short  time." 

The  general  acceptance  throughout  the 
Church  of  the  call  of  the  Joint  Commission 
for  a  nation-wide  mission  will  mean  the  con- 
centration of  spiritual  effort  for  the  conversion 
of  souls  to  God  for  a  specified  short  time,  in 
the  great  majority  of  the  parishes  and  missions 
of  this  whole  Church.  Obviously  an  enterprise 
of  such  high  purpose,  of  such  noble  adventure, 
demands  adequate  preparation,  and  the  time  is 
short. 

The  nation-wide  mission  is  a  call  to  the 
clergy  of  this  Church  to  do  work  to  which  most 
of  them  are  unaccustomed.     The  great  majority 


PREPARATION  FOR  THE  MISSION  15 

of  our  clergy  are  earnest  preachers,  but  only  a 
small  proportion  of  them  have  ever  conducted 
a  mission ;  perhaps  the  majority  of  them  have 
never  thought  they  could.  E'evertheless,  the  call 
has  now  come,  with  the  high  sanction  of  the 
General  Convention,  to  the  parish  clergy,  to 
become  for  a  certain  time  missioners.  They 
must,  if  the  mission  is  to  be  nation-wide,  do 
work  that  heretofore  has  been  done  by  men  of 
special  gifts  and  special  training. 

My  purpose  in  this  paper  is  to  show  that 
the  clergy  can  prepare  themselves  and  their 
parishes  for  the  effective  carrying  out  of  the 
plan  for  a  nation-wide  mission,  and  so  share  in 
the  blessings  of  the  greatest  movement  (in  my 
judgment)   ever  initiated  in  this  Church. 

At  the  outset  we  are  met  with  the  question, 
who  is  to  conduct  the  mission  in  my  parish? 
The  question  must  be  answered,  and  satisfac- 
torily, or  the  mission  will  not  be  held.  The 
trained  missioners  will  be  in  demand  for  the 
great  parishes  and  the  great  cities.  The  na- 
tion-wide mission  must  be  conducted  by  the 
parish  clergy.  How  shall  the  clergy  be  dis- 
tributed for  this  work? 

At  first  thought  it  would  seem  that  such  a 
detail  could  be  arranged  by  a  central  authority, 
the  Bishop  of  the  diocese,  or  a  special  committee 
who  might  arrange  a  simultaneous  exchange  of 
parishes.     This  plan  is  open  to  two  grave  objec- 


16       A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

tions :  first,  that  the  parish  priest  might  be  un- 
willing to  leave  the  selection  of  a  missioner  for 
the  flock  entrusted  to  his  spiritual  care  to  any 
other  person;  secondly,  that  a  one-man  mission 
is  by  no  means  so  effective  in  spiritual  result 
as  a  mission  conducted  by  two.  Our  Lord  sent 
His  missioners  by  twos. 

Would  some  such  plan  as  this  solve  the 
difiiculty  ?  Let  the  clergy  of  a  diocese  resolve 
that  this  mission  shall  be  conducted  by  the 
diocesan  clergy  without  outside  assistance  ex- 
cept as  such  assistance  may  be  mutually  re- 
ceived and  given. 

Secondly,  let  the  clergy  group  themselves 
into  twos,  or  better,  into  threes.  If  into  twos, 
let  A  and  B  spend  half  of  the  mission  period 
in  a  mission  in  A's  parish,  and  half  in  B's. 

If  into  threes,  let  A  and  B  go  to  C's  parish, 
B  and  C  to  A's,  and  A  and  C  to  B's.  Either 
arrangment  is  open  to  the  objection  that  each 
parish  will  be  left  for  the  period  of  one  mission 
without  pastoral  care.  I  think  the  advantage 
of  having  the  mission  conducted  by  two  men 
far  outweighs  the  objection,  and  the  careful 
preparation  of  the  parish  lay  reader  will  so  pro- 
vide for  the  services  in  the  interim  that  the 
benefit  of  the  mission  will  not  be  lost. 

The  first  step  in  the  preparation  of  the  par- 
ish priest  to  be  a  missioner  is  the  acceptance 
of  the  call.     Say,  "God  calls  me,  through  His 


PREPARATION  FOR  THE  MISSION  17 

Churcli,  to  undertake  the  high  and  holy  enter- 
prise of  a  mission  for  the  definite  purpose  of 
converting  souls  to  Him.  I  do  not  seek  this 
mission,  it  is  put  upon  me  by  authority  that  is 
from  Him.  Therefore  I  give  myself  to  Him 
that  He  may  use  me  as  He  will  in  this  work.'' 
"Not  by  might  nor  by  power,  but  by  My  spirit, 
saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts."  "Our  sufficiency  is 
of  God,  who  also  hath  given  us  of  His  Spirit." 
"There  are  diversities  of  gifts,  but  the  same 
spirit."  The  nation-wide  mission  plans  to  use 
all  the  diverse  gifts  of  all  the  clergy  in  a  united 
effort,  under  the  One  Spirit,  to  convert  souls 
to  God. 

This  work  cannot  be  done  without  a  definite 
campaign  of  prayer  and  study. 

(a)  From  now  on,  every  clergyman  should 
give  himself  to  definite  prayer  that  the  Spirit 
of  the  Lord  God  may  be  upon  him  to  make  him 
a  minister  in  the  "Ministry  of  Conversion," 
and  first  of  all  in  the  conversion  of  himself. 
Father  Bull  says,  "Conversion  may  be  defined 
as  that  change,  gradual  or  sudden,  by  which 
God  becomes  the  center  of  our  life."  Con- 
versely, we  shall  say  (shall  we  not?)  that  the 
unconverted  life  is  that  which  is  centered  in 
self.  How  many  and  subtle  are  the  temptations 
to  a  self-centered,  rather  than  a  God-centered 
life,  every  priest  knows  to  his  bitter  sorrow. 

If    the    nation-wide    mission    converts    the 


18       A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

clergy,  its  blessing  will  be  beyond  price.  With 
a  clergy  supremely  loving  God,  willing  above 
all  else  what  God  wills,  miracles  of  conversion 
can  and  doubtless  will  be  wrought,  as  in  a  new 
Pentecost. 

(b)  Supposing  then  the  acceptance  of  the 
call  to  be  a  missioner,  and  the  definite  setting 
of  himself  to  a  work  of  prayer,  one  aim  of 
which  shall  be  his  entire  conversion  to  God, 
how  shall  the  parish  priest,  who  has  never 
conducted  a  mission,  equip  himself  for  the  task  ? 

The  problem  is  not  that  of  the  preparation 
of  a  course  of  sermons,  but  of  equipment  for  a 
definite  ministry.  This  mission  has  been  de- 
scribed as  a  ^^!N'ation-wide  Preaching  Mission." 
If  it  is  nothing  more  than  a  preaching  mission, 
it  may  as  well  never  be  preached.  Our  purpose 
is  not  to  draw  crowds  to  hear  us  preach,  nor  will 
our  aim  be  attained  when  people  stand  up  to 
be  counted,  sign  cards,  or  file  by  to  grasp  us 
by  the  hand.  Our  ministry  will  be  directed 
to  this  sole  purpose,  viz.,  to  bring  each  soul  to 
"that  change,  gradual  or  sudden,  by  which  God 
becomes  the  center  of  our  life."  In  this  Church, 
that  purpose  will  not  be  fulfilled  until  each  soul 
is  brought  to  the  sacraments  and  set  squarely 
in  the  way  of  the  sacramental  and  sacrificial 
life. 

Certain  studies  will  help  us  greatly.  In  the 
Bible,  those  records  narrating  the  great  conver- 


PREPARATION  FOR  THE  MISSION  19 

sions,  as  in  the  cases  of  Moses,  Jacob,  David, 
Isaiah,  the  first  disciples,  Mary  of  Magdala, 
Saul  of  Tarsus,  and  the  great  appeals  of  Christ 
and  His  Apostles,  whereby  souls  were  won. 
Certain  manuals  (suggested  below)*  should  be 
carefully  studied. 

Preparation  must  also  be  made  for  minister- 
ing to  individual  souls  and  relieving  burdened 
consciences.  A  good  mission  will  result  in  the 
missioner  being  brought  face  to  face  with  the 
tragedies,  griefs,  and  sins  of  the  community, 
and  he  must  not  fail  any  soul  that  comes  to 
him  for  help.  I  am  not  speaking  to  the  trained 
missioner;  he  will  know  what  to  do.     Many  of 

*  Mason,  The  Ministry  of  Conversion,  90  cents,  Long- 
mans. 

Bull,  The  Missioners'  Handbook,  $1.40,  Clarendon 
Press. 

Trumbull,  Taking  Men  Alive,  60  cts.,  Y.  M.  C.  A. 

Fr.  Huntington,  O.H.C.,  Hoio  to  Conduct  the  Cate- 
chism, 5  cents,  0.  H.  C. 

Fr.  Huntington,  O.H.C.,  100  Questions  and  Ansivers 
for  the  Catechism,  5  cents,  O.  H.  C. 

Bp.  Dupanloup,  The  Ministry  of  Preaching,  and  The 
Ministry  of  Catechizing.  [These  are  out  of 
print.] 

Several  volumes  of  Sermons  by  Bishop  Brent,  Fr. 
Figgis,  the  Bishop  of  London,  and  Fr.  Waggett. 

Jowett,  Passion  for  Souls,  50  cents,  Revell. 

Holden,  Price  of  Power,  50  cents,  Revell. 

Jones,  Spencer,  The  Clergy  and  the  Catechism,  $1.00, 
Skefiington. 


20       A  NATION-WIDE   PREACHING  MISSION 

US,  however,  will  not  know  and  will  shrink  from 
this  ministry,  l^evertheless,  it  will  be  forced 
upon  us  and  woe  to  us  if  we  are  not  ready.  The 
chapters  dealing  with  this  subject  in  Father 
Bull's  and  Canon  Mason's  volumes  are  very 
valuable.  As  Father  Bull  well  says,  ^'There  is 
no  room  for  ^schools  of  thought'  on  this  subject." 
It  is  the  case  of  the  physician  needing  to  be 
ready  to  use  the  means  of  healing.  Bemember, 
there  is  no  question  as  to  the  need  of  confession ; 
the  only  question  is,  as  to  an  enforced  and  formal 
confessional.  ^N'o  such  question  arises  here,  but 
only  the  practical  question  of  helping  penitent 
souls  to  find  their  way  home. 

If  opportunity  offers  for  the  "Children's 
Mission,"  it  should  not  be  neglected.  This  will 
require  most  careful  preparation  in  every  par- 
ticular, and  the  missioner  cannot  afford  to  neg- 
lect any  detail.  The  method  described  in  Row 
to  Conduct  the  Catechism  (O.H.C),  is  prac- 
tical in  every  respect.  Valuable  works  on  the 
same  method  are  Spencer  Jones'  old  book.  The 
Clergy  and  the  Catechism  (based  on  Bishop 
Dupanloup's  The  Ministry  of  Catechizing)  and 
The  Catechisfs  Handbook. 

To  a  missioner  who  has  sympathy  with  chil- 
dren, who  will  take  the  necessary  pains  in  prep- 
aration, the  hour  of  the  Children's  Mission  will 
be  an  hour  of  refreshing  joy. 


PREPARATION  FOR  THE  MISSION  21 

In  preparing  for  the  mission,  the  mission 
priests  should  meet  and  pray  together,  and  lay 
ont  the  scheme  of  the  mission  on  the  line  of  a 
definite  theme.  The  subjects  for  the  sermons 
and  instructions  to  be  given  at  the  mission 
service  at  night  should  be  carefully  planned 
with  a  view  to  unity  in  variety,  and  progress 
toward  a  climax,  and  all  the  exercises  of  the 
mission  should  contribute  to  the  development 
of  this  theme,  yet  in  such  wise  as  to  avoid 
rigidity,  and  afford  sufficient  flexibility  that 
every  circumstance  arising  in  the  course  of  the 
mission  may  instantly  be  taken  advantage  of. 
The  missioner  must  be  prepared  for  emergen- 
cies, for  chances  (to  speak  from  the  human 
view-point),  for  opportunities  unforeseen  and 
exigencies  unprepared  for,  for  empty  churches 
or  full  churches,  for  a  receptive  or  an  apathetic 
audience,  for  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men, 
and  always  must  he  have  the  consciousness  of 
mission,  intense  fervor,  and  a  determined 
though  alway  Spirit-guided  will. 

For,  whoever  else  may  come  to  the  mission, 
two  persons  will  surely  come — Satan  and  the 
Holy  Ghost.  St.  Paul's  mission  to  Athens  is 
instructive;  some  mocked,  others  said.  We  will 
hear  thee  again  of  this  matter;  but  some  be- 
lieved, among  the  which  was  Dionysius  the 
Areopagite. 


22       A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

Preparation  of  If  I  hsive  dwelt  long  upon  the 
the  Parish  preparation  of  the  missioner,  it  is 

because  the  nation-wide  mission  must  for  the 
most  part  be  preached  by  inexperienced  mis- 
sioners. 

The  preparation  of  the  parish  for  the  mis- 
sion, though  its  importance  is  almost  as  great, 
need  not  detain  us  so  long. 

Each  parish  priest  must  prepare  his  own 
parish.  The  preparation  will  be  remote  and 
proximate.  The  remote  preparation  should  con- 
sist of  at  least  reading  to  the  congregation  the 
call  to  a  nation-wide  mission  issued  by  the 
Joint  Commission,  the  announcement  that,  God 
willing,  this  mission  will  be  held  in  the  parish, 
a  statement  of  the  purpose  and  nature  of  the 
mission,  and  a  call  to  the  people  to  pray  daily 
for  God's  blessing  upon  it. 

Every  parish  priest  should  plan  the  method 
whereby  each  person,  each  family,  each  parish 
organization,  may  take  part  in  the  preparation 
and  in  the  mission  itself. 

The  people  must  feel  that  the.  mission  is 
their  mission.  "Unless  the  faithful  laity  realize 
that  the  mission  is  their  great  opportunity  for 
saving  souls,  the  mission  is  not  likely  to  have 
much  influence  on  the  parish  as  a  whole'' 
(Father  Bull). 

Beginning  at  least  a  month  or  more  before 
the  mission,  the  active  preparation  should  be 


PREPARATION  FOR  THE  MISSION  23 

pushed  with  vigor.  Above  all  else,  get  every  one 
praying  for  the  mission.  ^'The  more  prayer  has 
gone  before  the  Avork,  the  more  blessing  may  be 
expected  to  follow''  (Canon  Mason).  Prayer 
circles  should  be  formed  to  meet  in  different 
homes. 

Such  organizations  as  are  usual  in  our  par- 
ishes should  be  especially  instructed  for  per- 
sonal work,  both  before  and  during  the  mis- 
sion. Emphasize  in  every  way  the  ministerial 
responsibility  of  the  laity.  Arouse  a  feeling  of 
expectancy  but  do  not  preach  an  advance  mis- 
sion. 

As  the  time  draws  near,  advertise,  create 
public  interest,  keep  it  before  the  mind  of  the 
people  of  the  community.  If  a  member  of  the 
"Ad  Men's  Club"  is  in  your  parish,  make  use 
of  his  experience  and  wisdom. 

Organize  the  workers  so  that  every  home  in 
your  community  may  be  visited  and  personally 
invited  to  "Come  to  the  mission."  Use  cards 
of  announcement  and  invitation,  and  have  them 
simple,  direct,  clear,  and  attractively  printed. 
Take  advantage  of  every  situation  and  circum- 
stance. If  prejudice  exists  against  the  Church, 
perhaps  we  can  get  our  honest  opponents  to 
praying  for  the  conversion  of  Episcopalians,  a 
most  suitable  prayer  if  conversion  be  "that 
change,  gradual  or  sudden,  by  which  God  be- 
comes the  center  of  our  life."     We  all  need  to 


24       A  NATION-WIDE   PREACHING   MISSION 

be  converted  and  to  be  daily  converted  more 
and  more. 

Beware  of  "playing  up"  the  personality  of 
the  missioner  or  missioners.  It  is  an  almost 
fatal  mistake  to  lay  stress  upon  the  eloquence 
or  success  or  standing  of  the  mission  preacher. 
Let  the  people  know  who  he  is,  but  let  expect- 
ancy wait  upon  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord. 

Train  some  tactful  souls  to  be  always  alert 
during  the  mission  for  any  opportunity  of  per- 
sonal work  that  may  arise,  cordial  greeting,  a 
word  of  sympathy,  procuring  a  personal  inter- 
view with  the  missioner,  in  short,  to  be  soul 
winners. 

May  I  venture  to  suggest  in  closing,  the 
theme  for  the  nation-wide  mission?  Should  it 
not  be  in  every  instance,  a  mission  of  the  Love 
of  God?  In  his  chapter  on  "How  Our  Lord 
Worked,"  Charles  G.  Trumbull  says:  "Always 
His  enduring  purpose  seemed  to  be  to  convince 
men  and  women  that  they  were  dear  to  Him 
and  to  the  Father  just  as  they  stood;  faulty, 
sinning,  unworthy,  discouraged,  or  hopeful,  it 
mattered  not  if  they  would  but  let  Him  come 
close  alongside." 


PUBLICITY 

By  Allen  D.  Albert 

THE  success  of  the  Nation-wide  Preaching 
Mission  will  depend  largely — from  the 
practical  point  of  view — upon  the  publicity 
given  it  in  each  community.  About  two-thirds 
of  the  value  of  such  publicity  will  depend  upon 
the  publicity  given  the  new  movement  in  ad- 
vance. 

In  a  community  where  the  work  is  fully 
done  the  movement  will  call  itself  to  the  atten- 
tion of  the  layman — 

When  he  reads  the  newspaper. 

When  he  rides  in  the  street  car. 

When  he  looks  in  the  show  windows. 

When  he  goes  to  church. 

When  his  children  return  from  Sunday 
school. 

When  he  gets  a  special  letter  on  the  subject 
from  his  rector. 

When  he  sees  the  electric  sign  down  town. 

If  he  travels,  when  he  finds  a  letter  of  invita- 
tion in  his  letter-box  at  the  hotel. 


26       A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

And  in  some  communities  when  lie  looks 
at  tlie  sign-boards. 

The  work  of  directing  the  details  of  such 
publicity  in  any  city  is  too  great  for  any  one 
man.     It  can  best  be  undertaken  as  follows: 

Organizing  the  The  clergv^  of  cach  city  should 
General  Commit-  give  a  particular  session  as  early 

tee  on  Publicity     ^g    possible   tO   publicity. 

They  should  call  into  conference  not  less 
than  -^ve  laymen  from  each  parish. 

They  should  choose  as  general  chairman  of 
the  committee  on  publicity  some  layman  who 
has  had  extended  and  practical  experience  in 
such  matters,  preferably  as  a  newspaper  pub- 
lisher or  as  a  manager  of  advertising. 

The  general  committee  on  publicity  should 
then  organize  four  sub-committees. 

1.  On  news  notices  and  newspaper  adver- 
tising. 

2.  On  placard  displays. 

3.  On  church  and  Sunday  school  announce- 
ments. 

4.  On  finance. 

Articles  for  the  To  the  first  of  these  sub-commit- 
Newspapers  tecs  should  be  named  all  news- 
paper publishers  and  editors  who  worship  in 
the  several  parishes  or,  being  members  of  other 
denominations,  can  be  counted  upon  for  interest 


PUBLICITY  27 

in  the  mission.  If  it  is  at  all  feasible,  the 
city  editors  of  the  several  local  newspapers 
should  also  be  named  to  this  committee  and  any 
newspaper  reporters  who  are  regular  or  occa- 
sional worshippers  at  any  Episcopal  church. 

A  secretary  should  be  chosen  for  this  sub- 
committee who  is  a  trained  newspaper  man  and 
he  and  the  chairman  should  do  practically  all 
the  work,  summoning  the  whole  committee  not 
more  than  twice. 

The  news  articles  should  begin  with  a  gen- 
eral announcement  of  about  a  half  column  re- 
leased to  all  the  newspapers  simultaneously. 
This  announcement  should  give  only  the  general 
dates  of  the  special  services  and  the  names  of 
the  speakers.  A  separate  item  should  be  made 
later  of  each  speaker  and  the  committee  should 
obtain  a  photograph  of  each  speaker  for  each 
newspaper.  A  separate  item  should  also  be 
made  of  the  date  upon  which  each  speaker  is 
to  appear  and  of  the  subjects  of  his  addresses. 

This  committee  should  also  prepare  such 
advertisements  as  the  means  of  the  general  com- 
mittee will  permit,  and  with  every  advertise- 
ment should  go  to  each  newspaper  a  news  notice. 
If  the  matter  is  taken  up  by  a  trained  news- 
paper worker,  arrangements  for  such  news- 
paper items  can  be  made  by  him  at  each  news- 
paper office  without  difficulty. 


28       A  NATION-WIDE   PREACHING  MISSION 

Street  Cars  and  A  Committee  on  placard  display 
Show  Windows  should  have  at  its  head  the  mana- 
ger of  advertising  of  one  of  the  stores,  or  an 
expert  in  advertising  features,  or  the  local  man- 
ager of  street-car  advertising,  or  a  representa- 
tive of  the  advertising  department  of  one  of  the 
newspapers. 

He  should  prepare  placards  for  the  street 
cars  and  he  can  arrange  usually  for  the  display 
of  such  placards  free  of  charge.  If,  however, 
the  street  car  company  cannot  be  brought  to 
display  such  placards  free  of  charge  they  should 
be  paid  for,  as  this  form  of  advertising  is  of 
the  largest  practical  value. 

Suitable  placards  for  show  windows  should 
be  prepared  for  distribution  to  the  maximum 
number  of  stores  down  town,  to  the  stores  in 
the  general  vicinity  of  each  church,  and  for  the 
bulletins  of  a  maximum  number  of  factories 
and  other  institutions  employing  large  numbers 
of  men,  such  as  street  car  companies,  light  com- 
panies, and  railroads. 

If  the  object  is  to  engage  the  attention  of 
men  and  women  not  already  organized  into 
bodies  of  Christian  workers,  it  is  well  to  pass 
over  such  institutions  as  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and 
Y.  W.  C.  A. 

These  placards  should  also  be  put  where 
they  will  be  seen  at  each  service  of  a  Sunday 


PUBLICITY  29 

school  and  at  each  church  gathering  not  held 
in  the  main  auditorium,  of  the  church. 

Letters  and  The  Committee  on  church  and  Sun- 

Announcements  day  school  announcements  should 
prepare  in  typewriting  a  series  of  announce- 
ments to  be  read  from  the  chancel  at  the  stated 
services  of  the  parish  and  at  all  other  meetings. 
It  should  prepare  also  a  personal  letter  and  not 
less  than  one  "follow-up"  letter  to  be  sent  to 
everyone  on  the  church  books. 

This  letter  should  set  forth  the  nature  of 
the  campaign,  name  the  speakers,  and  give  the 
hours  of  the  services.  The  general  chairman  of 
the  committee  on  publicity  will  nearly  always 
desire  to  prepare  these  letters  himself,  as  they 
constitute  the  one  single  means  of  reaching 
every  person  entered  on  the  church  registers 
directly  and  personally. 

Such  letters  are  practically  indispensable  to 
the  success  of  the  mission  and  would  best  be 
printed  in  the  form  of  typewriting,  each  one 
addressed  separately,  and  signed  with  the  name 
of  the  rector,  written  with  a  pen. 

Making  the  Air  Such  general  advertising  as  elec- 
Electrlc  with  tric  sigQs  and  bill-boards  will  de- 
Interest  pend  upon  the  means  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  committee.  They  are  of  less  im- 
portance than  the  other  forms  of  advertising, 
already  described.      Their  chief  value  lies   in 


30       A  NATION-WIDE   PREACHING  MISSION 

making  the  air  electric  with  interest.  Such 
advertising  can  be  as  dignified  and  unoffending 
as  any  other  kind,  and  every  dollar  spent  upon 
it  with  ordinary  intelligence  will  produce  large 
and  creditable  results. 

One  good  electric  sign  conspicuously  located 
will  arouse  an  entire  city.    It  might  read : 

^^Nation-wide  Pkeaching  Mission — 

Episcopal  Churches 
December  1st  to  December  15th.'' 

Displays  for  bill-boards  might  have  either 
this  terse  form  or  the  form  of  direct  invitation 
thus: 

^'You  ARE  Invited  to  Take  Part  with  all 

America  in  a  JNTation-wide  Preaching 

Mission  at  any  of  Our  Churches 

AND  Hear  the  Gospel  Taught. 

The  services  will  be  held  every  day  from  De- 
cember 1st  to  December  15th.     St.  Paul's 
Episcopal   Church,    St.   Mark's  Epis- 
copal Church,  All  Saints'  Episco- 
pal Church." 

How  to  Reach  "^^^  letters  to  guests  at  hotels 
the  Strangers  should  be  prepared  with  no  less 
in  the  Hotels  Q^^e  than  the  letters  to  those  on 
the  church  books.  They  should  be  addressed 
personally,  and  have  such  general  form  that 
each  may  seem  to  be  written  directly  to  the  par- 


PUBLICITY  31 

ticular  guest  who  receives  it.  These  should  also 
be  in  the  form  of  typewriting  and  signed  with 
a  pen. 

If  a  hotel  record  is  published  it  will  be  possi- 
ble to  obtain  each  day  the  name  of  each  guest 
in  each  of  the  leading  hotels. 

If  there  is  no  hotel  record,  each  of  the 
hotels  should  be  allotted  among  the  several  mem- 
bers of  the  sub-committee  on  church  and  Sun- 
day school  announcements,  and  the  names  taken 
from  each  hotel  register  after  the  arrival  of 
the  morning  trains.  A  telephone  conversation 
between  the  chairman  of  the  general  committee 
on  publicity  and  the  manager  of  each  hotel  will 
usually  be  found  to  be  all  that  is  required  to 
obtain  the  full  cooperation  of  the  hotel  clerical 
force. 

The  Publicity  Such  advertising  increases  in  ef- 
ShouM  Grow  fectiveness  with  geometrical  ra- 
in Force  pidity  as  it  is  repeated.  But  each 
repetition  must  correspond  with  all  that  has 
gone  before ;  and  it  is  never  well  to  assume  that 
anyone  has  heard  or  read  anything  published 
or  stated  before.  Hence  each  announcement 
must  be  complete  in  itself. 

N^ot  less  than  a  month  will  be  required  for 
this  campaign  in  each  city. 

This  will  provide  for  not  less  than  four 
Sunday  announcements  from  the  chancel,  four 


32       A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

statements  from  the  Sunday  school  platform, 
and  four  general  news  stories  in  the  papers. 

The  placards  should  be  on  display  not  less 
than  two  weeks. 

The  first  letter  should  issue  to  those  on  the 
church  books  not  less  than  two  weeks  before  the 
first  service  of  the  mission.  If  there  are  two 
"follow-up"  letters,  one  should  be  sent  within 
a  week  before  the  first  service  and  one  so  mailed 
as  to  be  delivered  on  the  day  preceding  the  first 
service.  If  only  one  "folloAv-up"  letter  is  issued 
it  should  be  delivered  about  two  days  preceding 
the  first  service. 

The  aim  of  the  whole  campaign  of  publicity 
should  be  to  interest  the  whole  population  in 
the  movement.  This  can  be  done  only  by  an 
extremely  vigorous  campaign  which  grows 
steadily  in  breadth  and  power  of  appeal.  The 
nation-wide  movement  will  fail  of  one  of  its 
most  important  functions  if  it  does  not  reach 
church  folk  who  have  become  irregular  in  their 
attendance  and  arouse  the  interest  of  thousands 
who  have  ceased  in  their  attendance. 


PREACHING  AND  SERMONS 

By  the  Kt.  Rev.  Edward  W.  Osborne,  D.D. 
Bishop  of  Springfield 

IN  all  mission  work,  Preaching  is  the  chief 
thing.  This  must  never  be  forgotten.  "The 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me  because  the  Lord 
hath  anointed  me  to  preach,"  "Then  began  Jesus 
to  preach,"  "Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and 
preach,"  "Ordained  a  preacher."  The  preacher 
goes  forth  with  a  heart  full  of  joy ;  he  is  doing 
the  work  his  Lord  did;  he  is  carrying  out  the 
work  the  Lord  gave  to  His  Church,  he  is 
anointed  with  the  same  Spirit  as  his  Lord ;  his 
joy  is  all  the  greater  because  he  can  speak  from 
a  full  heart  of  what  the  preaching  of  the  Gos- 
pel has  been  to  him,  what  it  has  done  for  him, 
or  what  he  has  seen  of  its  power  in  the  lives  of 
others.  "God  .  .  .  has  manifested  His  word 
through  preaching,  which  is  committed  unto 
me,  according  to  the  commandment  of  God  our 
Saviour." 

The  Preaching  is  the   chief  thing  in  our 


34       A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

nation-wide  mission.  Everything  else  must  pre- 
pare for  it,  be  subordinated  to  it,  be  used  to 
strengthen  and  deepen  the  effect  of  the  preach- 
ing, to  gather  in  its  results. 

To  Prepare  There  will  be  prayer  meetings, 
^°^  ^*  and  multitudes  will  pray  for  God's 

blessing  on  the  mission.  Pray  for  the  preach- 
ers ceaselessly,  not  only  the  people,  the  sinners, 
but  the  missioners.  Talk  about  the  preaching, 
ask  people  to  come  and  hear,  create  an  expecta- 
tion of  help,  of  learning;  open  all  ears  with  a 
readiness  to  hear,  a  hope,  undefined  perhaps, 
that  each  will  hear  something  to  do  him  good. 

Subordinate  Services  and  hymns,  especially. 
Everything  to  It  Jt  is  quite  possible  to  spend  too 
much  time  over  them.  Is  not  one  reason  why 
sermons  are  ineffective  that  the  preacher  and 
the  people  have  had  forty  or  perhaps  sixty  min- 
utes of  prayers  and  music,  and  are  mentally 
and  perhaps  spiritually  tired  when  they  sit 
down  to  listen  to  the  sermon,  or  the  preacher 
stands  up  to  preach?  This  must  never  be  in  a 
mission.  It  might  be  a  good  thing  in  all  places 
if,  at  times  at  least,  sermons  were  separated 
from  long  services. 

Any  service  before  the  sermon  should  be 
short,  and  it  is  better  not  to  make  it  liturgical. 
The  people  have  come  to  hear  a  sermon,  don't 


PREACHING  AND  SERMONS  35 

give  them  cause  to  saj,  ^'When  is  the  sermon 
going  to  begin  ?" 

In  many  years'  experience  the  writer  has 
found  the  following  order  best : 

A  hymn,  the  Lord's  Prayer,  two  collects,  a 
prayer  for  missions.  Scripture  reading  (10  to 
15  verses),  a  short  hymn,  the  sermon.  Notices 
of  services  can  come  before  the  second  hymn. 
Twelve  to  fifteen  minutes  is  sufficient  for  all 
this,  the  late  comers  have  got  in,  all  are  fresh 
and  attentive  for  the  voice  of  the  preacher. 

To  Help  the  T^®  moments  after  the  sermon 
Effectiveness  of  are  most  important.  What  is  done 
the  Sermon  depends  on  the  subject  and  man- 
ner of  the  sermon. 

As  a  rule  a  hymn  will  be  used.  (N.  B.  The 
preacher  must  select  all  the  hymns.)  The  hymn 
after  the  sermon  should  not  be  a  noisy,  shout- 
ing one,  but  quiet,  prayerful,  an  expression  of 
the  soul's  need,  an  appeal  to  God  for  strength 
and  help,  or  an  utterance  of  penitence. 

After  the  hymn,  prayer,  suitable  collects 
already  chosen,  the  Confessions  from  the  Prayer 
Book,  the  opening  sentences  of  the  Litany,  fol- 
lowed by  extempore  prayer,  a  penitential  psalm. 
All  of  these  are  suitable  according  to  the  sermon. 

At  times,  again,  according  to  the  sermon,  it 
is  well  to  end  the  sermon  with  the  words,  "Let 
us  pray" ;  "Let  us  all  now  kneel  down  before 


36       A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

God  in  silence,"  and  let  prayer  follow.  An 
earnest  hymn  may  follow. 

All  the  above  will  take  about  one  hour,  the 
sermon  being  twenty-five  to  forty  minutes,  ac- 
cording to  the  capacity  of  the  preacher,  the  in- 
terest in  the  subjects,  the  attention  of  the  people. 
All  interested  in  the  mission  will  be  ready  to 
stay  another  half  hour. 

How  to  Help  Notices  may  be  given  out,  or  any 
the  Sermon  explanation  of  proposed  plans. 

Then  should  follow  an  Instruction.  This 
should  have  some  connection  with  the  subject 
of  the  sermon  or  follow  naturally  upon  it.  Thus : 
A  sermon  upon  God  might  be  followed  by,  "How 
to  find  God,"  or  "Prayer."  A  sermon  on  the 
Judgment,  by  Self-examination.  A  sermon  on 
Sin,  by  Repentance.  A  sermon  on  Kew  Life, 
by  Reparation.  A  sermon  on  the  Passion,  by 
instruction  on  the  Holy  Eucharist.  Others  on 
Saying  your  Prayers,  Going  to  Church,  Fight- 
ing Temptations,  and  similar  subjects.  A  care- 
fully prepared  public  self-examination  may  be 
most  useful,  provided  the  preacher  is  sure  of  his 
control  of  the  congregation. 

After  the  Instruction  any  who  may  wish  to 
speak  with  the  preacher  may  be  invited  to  re- 
main. Then  a  hymn,  collect,  blessing,  and  quiet 
dismissal. 

Be  very  urgent  on  the  quiet  going  away. 


PREACHING  AND  SERMONS  37 

The  congregation  must  be  urged,  entreated,  com- 
pelled to  this.  They  must  not  get  up,  shake 
hands,  and  visit  all  over  the  church.  ^^Then 
Cometh  the  devil  and  taketh  away  the  word  out 
of  their  hearts." 

People  may  be  asked  to  send  written  ques- 
tions. Such,  if  they  seem  to  be  in  good  faith, 
may  be  answered  in  the  ten  minutes  before  the 
service  begins,  or  worked  in  with  the  Instruc- 
tion, provided  they  are  not  merely  controversial. 

It  may  be  well  to  ask  the  people  not  to  dis- 
cuss the  sermons  but  try  and  pray  over  them. 
The  rector  of  the  parish  might  do  well  to  ask 
a  few  trusted,  earnest  souls  to  put  themselves  in 
the  way  of  others  who  may  need  help,  and  either 
to  answer  their  questions  or  bring  them  to  the 
missioner  or  rector. 

The  preacher  may  go  down  into  the  church 
and  speak  to  any  who  seem  to  be  moved  to  good 
and  to  make  it  easy  for  them  to  tell  any  need 
of  their  souls.    "What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ? 

These  are  some  few  of  the  suggestions  for 
deepening  the  effect  of  the  sermon  and  securing 
the  results. 

T,,    o  We  may  now  consider  the  sermon, 

ihe  bermon  "^  i  •   i        n      i 

the  great  event  to  which  all  else 
is  to  minister.  What  should  the  sermons  be 
about  ? 

Do  not  try  to  preach  the  whole  Gospel  in 


38       A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

every  sermon.  Be  content  to  leave  many  things 
unsaid.  Do  not  begin  by  working  on  the  emo- 
tions of  the  people — let  them  be  moved  by  the 
Spirit. 

Sermons  to  be  effective  must  be  founded  on 
doctrine.  That  this  is  so  need  not  be  formally 
stated,  the  people  may  never  notice  it,  but  in 
the  preacher's  mind  it  must  be  there;  the 
foundation,  the  central  purpose  of  each  sermon 
to  teach  this  truth,  to  make  it  clear,  to  apply  it, 
to  show  its  bearing  on  Christian  life,  to  lead  its 
hearers  to  desire  or  to  do  the  thing  that  this 
truth  requires  of  them,  to  lead  their  intellect 
to  understand,  their  heart  to  accept,  their  wills 
to  submit  themselves  to  it,  that  is,  to  hear  and 
obey  the  will  of  God. 

This  implies  that  the  sermons  should  follow 
some  course  of  teaching.  This  must  be  so  to 
avoid  mere  repetition  and  to  avoid  ^^running 
dry,"  as  an  unfortunate  preacher  who,  when  he 
had  finished  the  third  night,  told  the  rector  that 
he  did  not  see  how  to  go  on,  he  had  said  all  he 
had  to  say,  what  more  was  there  to  be  said  ? 

Of  course  a  certain  amount  of  repetition 
will  be  all  right:  a  reference  to  "What  I  said 
last  night,"  a  picking  up  of  the  threads  of 
former  teaching  and  showing  how  they  lead  on 
to  the  subject  of  to-day;  all  this  will  not  inter- 
fere with  a  course. 

In  planning  a  course  it  is  well  to  lay  the 


PREACHING  AND  SERMONS  39 

foundations  on  the  first  principles  of  religion, 
God,  and  man's  relation  to  Him,  what  this  in- 
volves in  responsibility,  what  it  brings  as  the 
motive  and  the  joy  of  life.  Man  is  a  responsible 
being,  and  he  has  a  right  to  ask  to  be  shown  a 
reason  why  he  should  serve  God,  why  he  should 
love  God,  why  he  should  keep  from  sin,  why  he 
should  resist  temptation,  why  make  the  best  of 
his  life,  physically,  mentally,  spiritually. 

Teaching  like  this  will  win  the  consent  of 
his  intelligence  and  then,  if  his  affections  re- 
spond, and  his  will  is  moved  naturally,  there  is 
a  good  hope  that  his  conversion  will  be  perma- 
nent. If  the  appeal  is  only,  or  first  of  all,  to 
the  affections,  or  to  the  will,  or  merely  to  the 
emotions  there  is  no  reason  in  the  mind  why  a 
certain  thing  should  be  believed  or  done,  the 
personal  appeal  of  the  preacher  fails  for  want 
of  that  reason,  or  his  personal  influence  may 
move  for  the  time,  being  soon  followed  by  re- 
lapse, forgetfulness,  and  so  the  loss  of  any  hope 
which  may  have  been  aroused. 

It  may  be  well  to  add  some  suggestions  for 
courses,  leaving  the  manner  of  dealing  with  the 
subject  to  each  preacher.  Some  of  them  have 
been  used  by  the  writer  and  been  found  useful : 

I — Amos  4 :  12.    The  will  of  God  the  end  of  man. 
Hag.  7 :  5-7.    The  unsatisfying  character  of  all 

earthly  things. 
Hag.  7 :  5-7.    Sin  leading  away  from  God. 


40       A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

St.  Luke  15 :  11-13.    The  beginning  of  sin. 

II  Cor.  5 :  10.    The  judgment  after  death. 

St.  John  11 :  28.    The  call  of  death. 

I  John  4 :  9.  The  love  of  God  in  the  Incarna- 
tion. 

I  Cor.    6 :  20.    The  love  of  God  in  the  Passion. 

I  Cor.  4 : 5.  The  coming  of  Christ  the  time  of 
approval. 

Rev.  4 : 1.    The  call  to  higher  life. 

Phil.  1 :  21.    Spiritual  life  in  Christ. 

Rev.  21 : 1.    Heaven. 

II — God — The  object  of  worship,  of  life. 

Man's  relation  to  God. 
Sin — Turning  from  God. 
Sin — Setting  the  will  against  God. 

The  consequences  of  sin. 

Repentance. 

God's  call  to  man  in  Christ. 

The  call  of  the  Cross. 

The  life  of  Conversion. 

The  following  of  Christ. 

Perseverance. 

Ill — The  Sinfulness  of  Sin. 
a — Sin  against  God. 
b — Sin  against  the  Incarnate  Son. 
c — Sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost. 
d — Sin  against  myself. 
e — Sin  against  the  Church, 
f — Sin  against  the  great  High  Priest, 
g — True  repentance  for  sin. 
h — The  struggle  against  sin. 

There  is  no  better  course  of  sermons,  or 
foundation  for  a  course,  than  in  our  Lord's 
story  of  the  son  who  returned  home  (commonly 


PREACHING  AND  SERMONS  41 

called  the  ^Trodigal  Son").  From  eight  to  ten 
sermons  may  easily  be  founded  on  this  story, 
care  being  taken  to  make  no  reference  to  the 
return  for  the  first  five  or  six. 

So  also  the  story  of  the  traveler  who  fell 
among  thieves  and  the  Samaritan  who  helped 
him.    There  is  a  long  course  of  sermons  on  this. 

Both  of  these  courses  would  follow  the  same 
lines  suggested  above,  in  fact  the  interpretation 
of  each  story  suggests  the  course. 

It  may  be  noticed  that  in  all  these  sugges- 
tions for  a  course  of  sermons  I  have  placed  the 
Love  of  God,  the  Incarnation,  the  Passion  late 
in  the  course.  For  this  reason:  These  things 
are  well  known,  so  well  that  they  have  lost  their 
power  with  many.  They  are  by  many  treated 
as  if  meant  for  those  who  like  them,  not  with- 
out any  reason  in  the  life  of  all  men;  the  reasons 
are  not  recognized,  not  known.  This  is  because 
so  many  know  nothing  of  the  need  of  redemp- 
tion, have  no  personal  experience  of  the  neces- 
sity of  redemption. 

The  foundation  must  be  laid  in  God's  rela- 
tion to  and  claims  upon  man,  the  nature  and 
consequences  of  sin;  and  these  things  driven 
home  that  the  soul  may  feel  its  failure,  may  fear 
for  itself,  so  that  the  sense  of  responsibility  and 
judgment  to  come  will  become  real.  When 
this  has  been  accomplished  and  the  soul  aroused 
to  desire  God,  or  to  cry  out,  "What  must  I  do 


42       A  NATION-WIDE   PREACHING  MISSION 

to  be  saved?''  then  the  teaching  of  the  love  of 
God,  and  of  the  sacrifice  for  sin,  will  have  a  new 
and  personal  meaning,  will  come  with  new  force. 
Preach  sin,  punishment,  judgment  in  this 
life  and  the  next.  This  is  too  little  done  in  the 
Church.  We  are  afraid  of  offending,  afraid 
lest  we  make  people  unhappy,  and  yet  this  is 
exactly  what  they  need,  their  souls'  salvation 
may  depend  upon  it.  Sorrow  must  come  be- 
fore joy. 


THE  MISSIONER'S  MESSAGE 

By  the  Eev.  Floyd  W.  Tomkins,  D.D. 

THE  ^']^ation-wide  Preaching  Mission,"  as 
its  name  signifies,  is  designed  to  reach  our 
people  largely  through  the  pulpit,  and  in  this 
it  differs  somewhat  from  a  regular  "Mission," 
which  emphasizes  instruction  as  well  as  exhorta- 
tion. But  as  it  is  hoped  that  the  rectors  and 
those  in  charge  of  churches  will  supplement  the 
work  of  the  mission  preacher  in  case  he  cannot 
give  special  attention  to  the  day  services,  it  may 
be  well  to  outline  the  full  course  of  a  series  of 
mission  activities,  and  it  is  hoped  that  many 
churches  can  carry  them  out. 

Advertising  Every  parishioner  should  receive 
the  Mission  a  printed  notice  of  the  mission 
services  with  a  letter  from  the  rector,  giving  the 
hours  of  service  and  urging  private  prayer  for 
the  mission  and  the  mission  preacher,  and  claim- 
ing a  loyal  attendance  at  the  services.  A  prayer, 
which  the  Bishop  of  the  diocese  will  doubtless 
authorize,  should  be  used  at  all  services  before 


44       A  NATION-WIDE   PREACHING  MISSION 

and  during  the  mission.  Cottage  prayer-meet- 
ings in  rural  districts  and  towns  are  most  help- 
ful. And  in  small  towns  all  the  people — regard- 
less of  Church  affiliation — may  well  be  invited, 
for,  while  there  is  no  desire  to  bring  them  away 
from  their  own  religious  connections,  it  must  be 
recognized  that  the  Church  owes  a  duty  to  the 
whole  community.  In  some  places  posters,  dis- 
played in  conspicuous  places,  and  the  news- 
papers, can  be  profitably  used  in  advertising. 

Mission  The    Church    workers    should    be 

Workers  Organized  to  help  prepare  for  the 

mission.  The  following  committees  are  sug- 
gested, and  the  title  carries  the  outline  of  their 
duties : 

1.  Advertising. 

2.  Prayer  meetings. 

3.  Volunteer  choir. 

4.  Ushers. 

5.  Children's  services. 

A  mission  ought  to  accomplish  much  in  lead- 
ing Church  people  to  work.  A  competent  chair- 
man of  each  committee  should  be  selected  by  the 
rector,  and  this  chairman  (or  chairwoman)  can 
select  his  assistants. 

Mission  Where  it  is  possible,   the  follow- 

Services  ing  services  are  suggested: 

1.    Holy  Communion  daily.     Even  if  few 
can  attend,  this  opportunity  to  plead  Christ's 


THE  MISSIONER'S  MESSAGE  45 

death  on  the  Cross  will  be  a  great  comfort  and 
will  bring  a  blessing. 

2.  Service  for  instruction  in  the  Christian 
life.  This  may  be  held  in  the  morning  or  after- 
noon, as  circumstances  permit.  If  in  the  after- 
noon, it  should  not  interfere  with  the  service 
for  children,  but  may  precede  or  follow  that 
service.  The  use  of  a  hymn  and  prayers  before 
the  instruction,  and  at  its  close  the  offering  of 
intercessions  (for  which  a  box  may  be  placed 
at  the  door,  marked:  ^'Requests  for  Prayer") 
will  make  this  service  most  helpful  and  at- 
tractive. 

3.  Children  s  Service.  This  will  come  after 
school  hours.  Invitations  may  be  given  at  the 
schools.  Very  bright  hymns  should  be  used. 
The  address  should  be  short  and  pointed  with 
illustrations.  And  as  the  children  go  out  a  pic- 
ture-card, bearing  upon  the  address,  may  well 
be  given  to  each  child.  This  card  attracts  the 
children,  serves  to  advertise  the  mission  at  home, 
and  helps  to  fasten  the  message  in  the  child's 
mind.  Generally,  it  is  my  experience,  that  chil- 
dren love  this  service  and  come  in  increasing 
numbers. 

4.  Night  Service.  This  is  the  culmination 
of  the  day.  It  should  have  a  large  volunteer 
choir  and  a  competent  organist  who  will  be  regu- 
lar. Either  the  Church  Hymnal  or  the  Church 
Mission  Hymnal  will  furnish  suggestive  hymns. 


46       A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

which  should  be  sung  with  spirit.  A  hymn  sung 
as  a  solo  after  the  sermon  has  often  proved  help- 
ful. If  possible,  gather  the  choir  and  organist 
together  before  the  service  for  a  few  earnest, 
loving  words  and  a  prayer. 

The  service  should  be  simple.  I  would 
suggest  this  order:  1.  Hymn;  2.  Creed  and 
Prayers;  3.  Hymn;  4.  Notices;  5.  Hymn;  6. 
One  Lesson;  7.  Hymn;  8.  Sermon;  9.  Prayer; 
10.  Hymn  (while  those  who  cannot  remain  to 
the  after-meeting  go  out)  ;  11.  After-meeting. 

After-Meeting.  While  the  choir  and  people 
are  singing,  the  preacher  retires  to  the  vestry 
and  removes  his  surplice,  and  then,  in  cas- 
sock, takes  his  place  at  the  head  of  the  cen- 
tral aisle.  All  should  be  urged  to  remain,  and 
if  the  explanation  is  made  clear,  generally  all 
will  stay.  The  missioner's  address  now  should 
be  a  direct  and  fearlessly  personal  application 
of  the  message  from  the  pulpit.  Exhortation, 
instruction,  intercession,  etc.,  should  be  as  simple 
and  forceful  as  possible.  Sometimes  a  hymn, 
sung  while  all  are  kneeling,  is  helpful.  Those 
who  wish  to  speak  to  the  missioner  may  be 
urged  to  remain  after  the  benediction,  or,  if  pos- 
sible, asked  to  come  to  an  adjoining  room.  The 
missioner  should  go  to  the  door  and  speak  to  the 
people  as  they  leave  the  church.  This  is  im- 
portant as  bringing  him  near  to  the  people  so 
that  they  feel  as  if  they  knew  him.     If  any  re- 


THE  MISSIONER'S  MESSAGE  47 

main  and  go  into  another  room,  then  the  mis- 
sioner  has  his  God-given  opportunity.  Often 
careless  or  lapsed  Christians  and  those  "troubled 
in  mind,  body,  or  estate/'  will  wait  to  speak  to 
him,  as  well  as  those  who  wish  to  give  their 
hearts  to  God.  It  is  well  to  make  arrangements 
to  meet  such  as  these  at  a  set  time  and  place  the 
following  day.  The  missioner  should  always 
have  an  hour  each  day  when  people  can  find 
him  in  the  church  or  vestry-room,  ready  to  talk 
to  them. 

We  cannot  count  as  too  important  this 
after-meeting  as  well  as  the  whole  night  service. 
It  is  the  ingathering  time.  To  reprove,  convict, 
convince,  and  help  our  people — Christians  and 
non-Christians  alike — is  the  real  purpose  of  a 
mission.  If  the  rector  is  present  he  should  lead 
those,  whose  needs  he  knows  or  whose  lives  cause 
him  sorrow,  to  meet  with  the  missioner.  Chris- 
tian men  and  women  should  also  help  in  any  and 
every  way.  The  ordinary  reserve  should  be  laid 
aside.  God  gives  us  this  opportunity — let  us 
not  slight  it. 

Letters  and  visits  from  the  rector  should  be 
constant  to  those  who  are  not  Church  members 
or  who  have  grown  indifferent.  At  the  mission- 
time  God's  Holy  Spirit,  in  accord  with  the 
Master's  promise,  is  pleading  with  souls,  and  it 
is  the  minister's  golden  opportunity. 


48       A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

_,     . ,  ,    To  erather,  so  far  as  may  be,  the 

The  After-work  °,  '       ,,  •      •  j 

results  01  the  mission,  cards 
should  be  distributed  towards  the  end  of  the 
mission,  to  be  signed  with  name  and  address, 
on  w^hich  certain  facts  should  be  noted.  These 
cards  should  also  state  a  positive  determination 
on  the  part  of  the  one  who  signs.  It  has  been 
found  helpful  to  gather  these  cards,  not  sepa- 
rately, but  at  the  closing  service  when  the  only 
offering  taken  at  the  mission  will  be  received — 
an  offering  not  of  money  but  of  hearts  and 
lives.  Seldom  has  anything  been  found  more 
impressive  than  the  reverent  gathering  of  these 
cards,  pledges,  expressions  of  desire,  or  what- 
ever they  may  be  called,  and  the  placing  of  them 
upon  the  altar.  Christians  who  thus  renew 
their  vows,  children  who  wish  to  express  their 
love  for  Christ,  sinners  who  wish  to  conquer 
sin,  men  and  women  who  have  neglected  the 
Church,  idlers  in  the  vineyard  who  now  wish  to 
do  something  for  the  Master — they  see  the  cards 
they  have  signed  lifted  before  the  King  in  the 
most  Holy  Place,  and  they  know  the  King  has 
accepted  them. 

It  is  a  relief  to  ask  the  people  not  for  money 
but  for  themselves,  their  hearts  and  lives.  It 
gives  the  missioner  a  chance  to  teach  a  lesson 
many  will  never  forget. 

At  this  last  service — a  service  of  thanks- 
giving   and    consecration — the    missioner    may 


THE  MISSIONER'S  MESSAGE  49 

well  give  a  card  signed  by  the  rector  and  him- 
self, in  memory  of  the  mission.  The  signing 
of  these  is  laborious  but  it  is  a  splendid  work 
of  heart-love.  I  have  seldom  known — outside 
of  the  blessed  services  of  the  Sanctuary — such 
hours  of  spiritual  exaltation  as  when  I  have 
signed  Rve  hundred  or  a  thousand  cards  with 
a  prayer  for  each  as  my  pen  moved.  I  cannot 
but  believe  that  the  cards  thus  prepared,  signed 
and  given  by  the  missioner  after  the  final  serv- 
ice as  he  stands  on  the  choir  steps  and  the 
people  come  up  to  him  and  grasp  his  hand  and 
receive  them,  form  a  link,  not  between  the 
missioner  and  the  people — he  is  only  an  instru- 
ment and  goes  away  and  is  forgotten — ^but  be- 
tween God  and  man  that  has  a  lasting  power 
and  blessing.  Such  cards  placed  in  the  Bible 
have  brought  back  to  many  a  man  services  never 
to  be  forgotten,  pledges  sacred  and  lasting,  a 
consecration  which  marked  an  epoch  in  his  hu- 
man life. 

The  minister  has  enough  work  marked  out 
for  him  in  following  up  the  people  who  signed 
cards.  Faithful  work  here  has  its  reward,  and 
the  rector  knows  the  prayers  and  services  were 
not  held  in  vain.  Many  helpful  suggestions 
will  follow.  Perhaps  an  added  weekly  service, 
a  Bible  class  or  lecture,  communicants'  classes, 
confirmation  classes,  etc.  It  will  be  strange 
indeed  if  new  life  does  not  come  alike  to  min- 


50       A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

ister  and  people  through  this  blessed  preaching 
mission. 

SUGGESTED  PLEDGE  CARD* 

Thanking  God  for  these  Mission  Services,  I 
herewith  give  myself  anew  to  the  Master  and  ask 
His  blessing  upon  my  life. 

Name    

Address    

Baptized  ? Confirmed  ? 

A  regular  communicant? 

If  not,  will  you  now  come  ? 

Will  you  do  some  work  in  the  Church? 

Will  you  read  your  Bible  and  pray  daily? 

SUGGESTED  MEMORIAL  CARD 

"Who  loved  me,  and  gave  Himself  for  me." 
In  memory  of  a  message  from  God  received  at 
the  Mission  held  in 

(Picture  of  the  church) 

St Church,    

December ,  1915. 

Mission   Preacher. 

Rector. 

"Be  thou  faithful  unto  death,  and  I  will  give 
thee  a  crown  of  life." 


*  These  Pledge  Cards  may  be  obtained  from  The 
Young  Churchman  Co.  at  50  cts.  per  hundred.  The 
Memorial  Cards  must  be  printed  locally. 


THE  MISSIONER'S  MESSAGE  51 

SUGGESTED  CHILDREN'S  MEMORIAL  CARD 
OR  RIBBON 

"Jesus  called  a  little  child  unto  Him." 

In  memory  of  the  Children's  Mission  held 


At   St Church. 

"Jesus  loves  me." 


SUGGESTED  TOPICS  FOR  INSTRUCTION  IN 
THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE 

1.  What  is  the  Christian  Life?     St.  John  15. 

2.  Its    three   parts:     Towards    God,    Towards    self. 

Towards  the  world.     Rom.  8. 

3.  Means  of  Grace.     Baptism,   Confirmation,  Holy- 

Communion,  Prayer,  Bible,  Church  worship. 

4.  Helps.     The  Ten  Commandments. 

5.  Sorrow  and  joy. 

6.  Service  for  others. 

7.  Work. 


SUGGESTED  HEADS  FOR  CHILDREN'S 
ADDRESSES 

1.  God  is  Love.     1  John  4 :  16. 

2.  My  son,  give  Me  thine  heart.    Prov.  23 :  26. 


52       A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

3.  Speak,  Lord,  for  Thy  servant  heareth.     I  Sam. 

3:9. 

4.  A  little  child  shall  lead  them.  Isa.  11 :  6. 

5.  Jesus  called  a  little  child  unto  Him.     St.  Matt. 

18:2. 

6.  Lord,  what  wilt  Thou  have  me  to  do  ?    Acts  9 :  6. 

SUGGESTED  HEADS  FOR  NIGHT  SERMONS 

1.  Sin — as  separation  from  God.     "Adam,  where 

art  thou?"     Gen.  3:9. 

2.  Sin — as  alienation  from  God.    "A  far  country." 

St.  Luke  15 :  13. 

3.  Sin — as  rebellion  against  God.     '^e  will  not 

have  this  man  to  reign  over  us."     St.  Luke 
19 :  14. 

4.  Kepentance — "I  will  arise  and  go."     St.  Luke 

15 :  18. 

5.  Forgiveness — "There  is  forgiveness  with  Thee." 

Ps.  13:4. 

6.  The  Cross — "I  lay  down  My  life  for  the  sheep." 

St.  John  10:15. 

7.  Need  of  God— "God  be  merciful  to  me."     St. 

Luke  18 :  13. 

8.  Restoration— "Lovest    thou     Me?"       St.     John 

21:16. 

9.  Safety  and  Peace — "My  peace  I  give."    St.  John 

14:27. 

10.  "Now  is  the  accepted  time."    II  Cor.  6 :  2. 

11.  Danger  of  delayed  repentance — "The  harvest  is 

past,  the  summer  is  ended,  and  we  are  not 
saved."     Jer.  8:20. 


THE  MISSIONER'S  MESSAGE  53 

SUGGESTED  HEADS  FOR  AFTER-MEETINGS 

1.  Do  I  realize  my  sin? 

2.  Am  I  really  sorry? 

3.  Is  there  anything  keeping  me  from  God? 

4.  Have  I  confessed  Christ? 

5.  Baptism. 

6.  Confirmation. 

7.  Holy  Communion. 

8.  Social  Service. 


A  PARISH  PROGRAMME 

By  the  Rev.  James  E.  Freeman,  D.D. 

THE  success  of  a  diocesan  or  nation-wide 
mission  must,  obviously,  be  determined  by 
the  efficiency  of  each  local  parochial  mission. 
The  adaptation  of  methods  will  largely  be  fixed 
by  local  needs  and  conditions  and  what  may 
prove  effective  in  one  place  may  be  wholly  un- 
acceptable in  another;  it  is  therefore  difficult 
to  lay  down  an  inflexible  programme  for  uni- 
versal use.  Experience  and  experiment  are  the 
only  means  by  which  we  can  determine  the  best 
plan,  and  the  following  programme  for  a  parish 
is  submitted  out  of  experience  and  experiment 
in  missions  held  both  East  and  West,  in  'New 
York  and  San  Francisco,  and  in  other  cities  of 
the  East.  The  chief  value  of  this  experience 
and  experiment  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that 
it  was  demonstrated  in  the  parish  of  which  I 
was  rector  in  the  city  of  Yonkers. 

The   first    and   supremely   impor- 

reparaion         ^^^^  thing  in  effecting  a  mission 

is  adequate  and  proper  preparation.     The  pe- 


A  PARISH  PROGRAMME  55 

riod  of  preparation  should  not  be  less  than 
from  four  to  six  weeks  and  it  might  better 
occupy  a  period  of  several  months.  There  is 
some  danger  in  a  too  protracted  preparation 
as  it  tends  to  dissipate  and  enervate  energies 
that  must  have  their  largest  exercise  in  the 
mission  itself.  The  object  of  the  mission  being 
clearly  defined  in  a  circular  letter  sent  to  each 
individual  member  of  the  parish,  the  rector 
calls  together  a  group  of  efficient  men  and 
women  for  the  larger  consideration  of  plans  and 
the  perfecting  of  details.  These  committees 
should  comprise  the  following:  Publicity,  Mu- 
sic, Ushering,  Consulting  and  Inquiry.  The 
work  of  the  publicity  committee  has  to  do  with 
a  thorough  and  painstaking  canvass  and  cir- 
cularization  of  the  whole  parish,  information 
furnished  the  newspapers,  the  issuance  of  no- 
tices and  tracts  artistically  printed,  and  all 
other  matters  that  concern  the  widest  announce- 
ment of  the  mission's  enterprise.  It  is  needless 
to  comment  on  the  loss  of  power,  the  result  of 
the  indifference  the  Church  shows  to  wise  and 
legitimate  and  effective  advertising  methods. 
We  commend  most  cordially  Mr.  Allen  D. 
Albert's  chapter  dealing  more  fully  with  this 
subject. 

The    music   of   the   mission   is    a 

matter    of   large    importance    and 

we  have  found  it  necessary  to  exercise  excep- 


56       A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

tional  care  in  tlie  selection  of  the  hymns.  In 
cooperation  with  a  competent  musician,  a  list 
of  hymns  was  prepared  to  cover  the  various 
services  of  the  mission,  some  of  which  are  in- 
cluded in  the  Mission  Hymnal  (list  appended). 
I  beg  to  submit,  however,  that  it  has  been  my 
habit  to  employ  no  other  hymns  than  those  in 
our  own  hymnal.  The  music  committee  will 
undertake,  with  the  cooperation  of  the  rector, 
to  effect  a  large  volunteer  choir.  In  several  of 
the  missions  I  have  conducted  I  have  found 
that  a  children's  vested  choir  in  the  afternoon 
proved  most  valuable  and  that  a  full  vested 
choir  in  the  evening,  with  possibly  one  strong 
soloist  to  sing  the  Gospel  hymns,  was  a  dis- 
tinct aid  and  inspiration  to  the  service.  The 
work  of  the  music  committee  in  conjunction 
with  the  rector  is  so  obvious  that  discussion 
of  it  is  not  needed  here. 

The   work   of   the   ushering   com- 
s  ering  mittee  should  take  cognizance  of 

the  importance  of  hospitality  and  the  value  of 
a  kindly  greeting.  A  number  of  men  engaged 
in  this  work  at  the  door  of  the  church  is  an 
aid  to  an  effective  mission  not  to  be  lightly 
esteemed.  Mr.  Beecher  once  said  that  the  atti- 
tude of  those  who  served  in  the  back  of  the 
church  was  as  important  as  the  attitude  of  him 
who  preached  in  the  front  of  the  church.     The 


A  PARISH  PROGRAMME  57 

ushers  should  also  plan  to  look  after  the  dis- 
tribution of  literature  and  see  that  an  ample 
supply  of  hymnals  and  service  books  is  pro- 
vided. 

Consulting  and  This  Committee,  possibly,  is  the 
Inquiry  qj^q  of  largest   importance,   as   it 

has  to  do  with  the  very  vital  matters  to  which 
the  mission  is  committed.  It  should  be  so 
constituted  as  to  be  the  missioner's  or  rector's 
cabinet;  in  other  words,  his  executive  commit- 
tee. It  should  have  a  sufficient  number  of  men 
(and  women  too  for  that  matter)  to  enable  the 
missioner  at  the  close  of  the  service  to  have 
about  him  a  staff  of  helpers  to  confer  with  those 
who  are  seeking  information,  instruction,  or 
direction.  It  is  our  judgment  that  all  the  mem- 
bers of  this  committee,  together  with  such  others 
as  may  wish  to  attend,  should  come  together 
for  a  brief  period  before  each  night  service  for 
prayer  and  consultation.  One  of  the  largest 
movements  in  our  knowledge,  not  ephemeral  but 
permanent  in  its  results,  grew  out  of  such  a 
conference  as  we  have  suggested,  that  was  held 
unfailingly  week  by  week  in  a  great  Eastern 
church.  The  foregoing  committees  having  been 
carefully  planned  and  the  work  clearly  de- 
fined, a  most  important  part  of  the  preparation 
work  remains,  namely,  the  "cottage"  or  home 
meetings,  as  well  as  those  held  in  the  church 


58       A  NATION-WIDE   PREACHINa  MISSION 

or  parish  buildings,  for  prayer  and  conference, 
to  which  the  people  generally  of  the  parish 
should  be  invited.  It  has  been  our  experience 
that  neighborhood  meetings  held  in  homes  have 
proved  more  intimate  and  satisfactory  in  their 
results  than  those  held  in  public  places.  There 
is  no  doubt  about  the  spiritual  power  generated 
in  gatherings  of  this  kind.  The  reflex  of  these 
meetings  will  be  felt  in  every  avenue  and  de- 
partment of  the  mission  itself.  A  village  or 
town,  well  organized  through  these  preparatory 
meetings,  develops  an  enthusiasm  and  richness 
of  spiritual  experience  that  is  of  incalculable 
value.  Even  a  mission  with  an  inexperienced 
missioner,  or  one  of  ordinary  ability,  becomes 
an  inspiration  to  a  community  or  parish  where 
the  people,  through  both  clerical  and  lay  instru- 
mentalities, have  been  made  to  see  the  larger 
vision  of  a  conquering  Church.  In  this  con- 
nection we  lay  much  stress  upon  the  part  played 
by  the  laymen.  There  are  men  in  parishes  all 
over  the  land  whom  the  Church  regards  as  use- 
ful in  some  fiduciary  or  institutional  capacity, 
who,  if  called  into  a  distinctively  religious  serv- 
ice, would  signally  augment  the  pulpit  mes- 
sage. ISTo  parish,  however  well  supplied  with 
preaching  ability  in  its  pulpit,  may  be  regarded 
as  wholly  successful  unless  it  enlists  its  virile 
laymen  in  the  exercise  of  a  prophetic  ministry. 
All  too  long  the  Church  has  ignored  this  lay 


A  PARISH  PROGRAMME  59 

ministry.  We  accent  it  here,  because  a  mission 
will  fail,  that  is  wholly  dependent  upon  the 
missioner's  ability,  however  great  that  ability 
may  be.  These  meetings  of  preparation  in 
which  the  whole  subject  under  consideration  is 
the  spiritual  enrichment  and  refreshment  of  the 
community  and  parish  and  an  aggressive  minis- 
try for  the  saving  of  souls,  are  of  such  strategic 
importance  that  we  place  them  as  the  very 
Alpha  of  efficiency.  In  all  that  we  say  con- 
cerning preparation  and  committees,  we  urge 
the  recognition  of  the  efficiency  of  both  men  and 
women  in  the  conduct  and  extension  of  the 
work.  There  might  also  be  planned,  with  much 
profit,  a  children's  committee  to  have  large  over- 
sight over  the  special  children's  services. 

The  Use  of  Discounted  as  they  have  been  for 
Tracts  some   time  past,   the  well   edited 

and  wisely  conceived  tract  has  its  distinct  place 
of  value  in  a  carefully  ordered  mission;  indeed 
it  has  a  large  place  in  the  every-day  conduct  of 
a  well  ordered  parish.  Many  of  our  rectors,  if 
they  applied  themselves  to  it,  would  doubtless 
disclose  a  genius  for  putting  in  compact  and 
popular  tract  form  the  great  fundamental  truths 
of  our  faith.  Tracts  enriched  with  illustrations 
drawn  from  personal  experience  or  observation 
have  proved  of  sui'passing  value  in  our  expe- 
rience.    It  has  been  our  practice  to  write  our 


60       A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

own  tracts,  having  them  vary  day  by  day,  and 
incorporating  in  them  the  order  of  services. 
We  recall  one  instance  where  a  commercial  trav- 
eler purchased  a  thousand  copies  of  a  certain 
tract,  ^^to  use  it,"  as  he  said,  in  ^^silently  preach- 
ing the  Gospel  to  men.''  Tracts  that  have  a 
local  color  and  that  have  certain  intimate 
touches  of  parish  interest  are  more  valuable 
than  those  that  are  written  for  general  use  or 
distribution.  The  large  value  of  the  tract  is 
to  be  found  in  its  use  in  reaching  those  who  are 
beyond  the  pale  of  the  mission  itself.  Workers 
and  attendants  upon  the  mission  become  agents 
for  disseminating  not  only  information  about 
the  mission  but  the  priceless  truths  of  the  faith 
itself.  We  have  known  fathers  and  mothers 
who,  through  the  medium  of  a  tract,  have  been 
able  to  approach  rebellious  or  indifferent  sons 
or  daughters  and  to  bring  them  through  gentle 
persuasion  back  into  the  paths  of  rectitude  and 
grace.  Because  it  has  not  had  wide  use  in  our 
Church  is  no  reason  for  dispensing  with  this 
very  valuable  instrumentality.  It  is  our  grow- 
ing conviction  that  the  literature  of  any  mis- 
sion is  a  large  factor,  possibly  a  determining 
one,  in  its  usefulness  and  efficiency. 

The  Order  of     We    have    found    it    a    profitable 
Services  practice  to  divide  the  services  of 

the   day   as   follows:     An  early   celebration   at 


A  PARISH  PROGRAMME  61 

such  hour  as  may  seem  convenient  to  the  people. 
We  have  found  7 :30  the  most  satisfactory  hour. 
Ten  A.  M.,  service  for  women,  with  intimate  per- 
sonal talks  on  the  great  questions  that  relate 
to  religion  in  the  home  and  society.  A  soloist 
at  this  service  helps  much  in  leading  the  con- 
gregational singing  and  affords  opportunity  for 
the  solo  singing  of  one  of  the  great  Gospel 
hymns.  In  every  service  this  practice  should 
be  recognized.  We  append  suggested  outline 
of  addresses  for  the  women's  services.  Four 
p.  M.,  children's  service  with  vested  children's 
choir,  this  service  informal  in  character,  i.  e., 
several  hymns,  creed.  Lord's  Prayer,  and  se- 
lected collects,  a  brief  Bible  lesson,  hymn,  ad- 
dress, as  parabolic  in  form  and  as  richly  illus- 
trated as  possible.  Suggested  addresses  for  chil- 
dren's services  are  appended.  Eight  p.  m.,  even- 
ing service;  informal  in  character,  with  large 
vested  choir,  carefully  selected  hymns  in  har- 
mony with  the  theme  of  the  evening,  a  solo 
Gospel  hymn  at  the  close  of  the  sermon,  the 
service  lasting  not  more  than  one  hour,  followed 
by  a  simple  after-meeting,  without  choir.  In 
our  experience  the  after-meeting  has  proved  of 
the  greatest  value.  Earely  have  we  known  peo- 
ple to  leave,  the  interest  being  intense  and  the 
desire  evident  to  hear  a  more  personal  applica- 
tion of  the  theme  of  the  sermon.  The  choir 
being  dismissed,  the  rector,  returning  immedi- 


62       A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

ately  habited  in  cassock,  opens  the  meeting  with 
a  prayer  or  prayers  as  he  deems  wise,  this  to 
be  followed  by  a  hymn  and  a  short  intimate 
personal  talk,  as  intimate  and  personal  in  its 
application  as  it  can  be  made,  from  the  theme 
suggested  by  the  sermon.  This  may  be  followed 
by  brief  comments  made  by  some  of  those  pres- 
ent and  possibly  by  prayer  both  silent  and  audi- 
ble. We  must  not  forget  that  this  after-meeting, 
no  matter  how  great  its  attendance,  if  it  is  to 
have  virtue,  must  be  regarded  as  of  the  most 
intimate  character,  informal,  a  sort  of  family 
gathering,  and  a  family  gathering  calls  for  a 
form  of  intimacy  that  is  precluded  in  a  large 
Church  service. 

Conference  with  It  is  Well  f or  the  missioner,  if 
Missloner  possible,    to    designate    an    office 

where  he  may  be  accessible  to  those  who  wish 
to  see  him  privately.  Our  Lord  did  His  greatest 
work  with  individuals.  A  modern  worker  has 
said,  "The  key  to  the  mass  is  the  individual," 
therefore  if  we  are  to  follow  the  Master's 
method  we  must  not  despise  or  treat  indiffer- 
ently our  consultative  work.  We  are  not  only 
preachers,  we  are  diagnosticians,  and  diagnos- 
ticians must  deal  with  individual  cases. 

Mission  Themes 

Morning  Addresses  to  Women 

The  Woman  and  her  Family.    Text:    "Her  children 


A  PARISH  PROGRAMME  63 

arise  up,  and  call  her  blessed;  her  husband  also, 

and  he  praiseth  her."   Proverbs  31 :  28.    (See  also 

verses  11  to  27,  inclusive.) 
The   Woman  in  the   World.     Text:    "Let  her  own 

works  praise  her  in  the  gates."    Proverbs  31 :  31. 

(See  also  verse  25) :    Also,  "She  that  liveth  in 

pleasure  is  dead  while  she  liveth." 
The   Woman  in  her  Conversation.     Text:    "In  her 

tongue  is  the  law  of  kindness."   Proverbs  31 :  26. 
The  Woman  and  her  Need.    Text:    "If  I  may  but 

touch  His  garment  I  shall  be  whole."    Matthew 

9:20. 

Other  Themes  suggested  are: 
"The    Woman    in    her    Work,"    "The   Woman    and 

her   Opportunity,"    "The   Woman   in   her  Influ- 
ence," etc. 

We  have  found  the  thirty-first  chapter  of 
Proverbs  singularly  suggestive  in  addresses  on 
this  general  theme.  Apart  from  the  foregoing 
order  we  have  pursued  a  course  in  which  the 
great  women  of  the  Old  and  IsTew  Testaments 
have  figured,  in  whose  characters  were  illus- 
trated some  of  the  vital  principles  of  life. 
These  addresses  should  deal  without  fear  or 
favor  with  the  conspicuous  weaknesses  disclosed 
to-day  in  the  home,  society,  and  the  world  at 
large,  and  should  gently  but  firmly  indicate 
the  importance  of  a  return  to  the  old  ways  and 
the  old  paths  of  simplicity  and  holiness.  A 
candid  and  kindly  presentation  of  conditions 
with  which  we  are  all  familiar  but  which  are 
commonly  allowed  to  pass  unnoticed  and  unre- 


64       A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

buked  is  most  desirable  in  these  morning 
meetings. 

Children's  A    general    theme    that    we   have 

Service  found  useful  was  one  that  dealt 

in  a  graphic  recital  of  the  great  events  in  our 
Lord's  life,  especially  of  those  events  that  relate 
Him  to  child  life.  His  birth  and  childhood, 
Luke  2 :  1-20 ;  His  first  visit  to  the  Temple, 
Luke  2 :  41-52 ;  His  second  visit  to  the  Temple, 
John  2 :  13-17 ;  His  calling  the  disciples,  creat- 
ing a  Church,  Matthew  9:9;  John  1 :  37,  etc. 
The  design  of  these  addresses  should  be,  not 
only  to  inform  the  children  as  to  the  story  of 
the  Christ  life  but  its  intimate  relation  to  their 
lives,  especially  to  their  happiness  and  largest 
and  fullest  development.  Abundance  of  illus- 
trative material  is  needed  here,  and  those  pas- 
sages in  the  'New  Testament  in  which  Jesus 
deals  directly  with  child  life  as  in  His  discus- 
sion with  His  disciples  as  to  who  should  be 
greatest  in  the  Kingdom  prove  valuable  for 
these  services.  In  one  mission  we  had  the  chil- 
dren make  notes  as  the  mission  progressed  and 
as  the  theme  developed,  and  at  the  close  care- 
fully prepared  papers  were  presented,  some  of 
them  admirable. 

The  Evening  It  is  the  Universal  experience  of 
Service  missiouers  that  an  evening  service 

to  be  effective  must  be  informal  but  dignified  in 


A  PARISH  PROGRAMME  65 

character.  Obviously,  if  any  part  of  our  lit- 
urgy is  used  it  must  be  abbreviated  and  selected 
with  large  judgment.  One  of  the  conspicuous 
features  of  the  evening  service  is  the  singing 
of  the  hymns.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the 
primary  purposes  of  the  mission  services  are  to 
teach,  admonish,  and  inspire.  Every  great  re- 
ligious awakening  has  proceeded  through  the 
exercise  of  the  prophetic  gift.  .The  mighty 
movements  that  have  overturned  human  phi- 
losophy and  recreated  social  conditions  have 
come  through  the  exercise  of  the  ministry  of  the 
prophet,  hence  the  supreme  place  of  the  night 
message. 

Suggested  Themes 
First  Series 

The  Enlarged  Vision.  Text :  "Come  up  hither,  and 
I  will  shew  thee  things  which  must  be  here- 
after."   Kev.  4:  part  1. 

The  Great  Call.  Text:  The  Master  is  come  and 
calleth  for  thee."   John  11 :  28. 

Self -Conscious  Weahness.  Text:  "Why  could  not 
we  cast  him  out  ?"   Matt.  17 :  19. 

The  Peril  of  Procrastination.  Text:  "Go  thy  way 
for  this  time;  when  I  have  a  convenient  season 
I  will  send  for  thee."    Acts  24 :  25. 

An  Underwritten  Life.  Text :  "Kept  by  the  Power 
of  God."    I  Peter  1:5. 

Transfiguring  Prayer.  Text:  "As  He  prayed  the 
fashion  of  His  countenance  was  altered."  Luke 
9:29. 


66       A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

Costly  Service.  Text:  "Neither  will  I  offer  unto 
the  Lord  my  God  of  that  which  doth  cost  me 
nothing."  II  Sam.  24 :  24. 

Second  Series 

The  Mission's  Purpose  and  Power.     Text:    "If  this 

work  be  of  men  it  will  come  to  nought."     Acts 

5:  part  38.     "Ye  shall  receive  power  after  that 

the  Holy  Ghost  is  come  upon  you."    Acts  1 :  part  8. 
The  World's  Need.     Text:    "Have  mercy  on  me,  O 

Lord;  my  daughter  is  grievously  vexed  with  a 

devil."    Matt.  15:22. 
Danger  of  Self -Satisfaction.     Text:    "I  will  say  to 

my  soul,  Soul,  thou  hast  much  goods  laid  up  for 

many  years,  take  thine  ease."   Luke  12 :  19. 
Interrupted  Faith.     Text:    "Ye  did  run  well;  who 

did  hinder  you?"    Gal.  5:7. 
Responsibility  for  Others.     Text:    "No  man  cared 

for  my  soul."   Ps.  142 :  4.     "That  I  should  know 

how  to  speak  a  word  in  season  to  him  that  is 

weary."   Isaiah  50 :  4. 
The    Inevitable    Christ.     Text:     "Will    ye    also    go 

away  ?   Lord,  to  whom  shall  we  go  ?"   John  6 :  67, 

68. 
The   Call  for  Decision.     Text:    "What  shall  I   do 

then  with  Jesus  which  is  called  Christ?"    Matt. 

27 :  22. 
The  New  Life.    Text :   "Therefore,  if  any  man  be  in 

Christ  he  is  a  new  creature."  II  Cor.  5 :  17. 
The  Sense  of  Direction.    Text :   "He  steadfastly  set 

His  face  to  go  to  Jerusalem."   Luke  9 :  51. 
Permanence  of  Life.     Text:   "He  that  doeth  the  will 

of  God  abideth  forever."   I  John  2 :  17. 


A  PARISH  PROGRAMME  67 

Third  Series — Eeligion  and  Life 

1.  The  arrested  life — 

"When  God  saw  that  he  turned  aside— God 
called  unto  him."  Exodus  3  :  4. 

2.  The  sacredness  of  life — 

"Put  off  thy  shoes  from  off  thy  feet,  for  the  place 
whereon  thou  standest  is  holy  ground."  Exodus 
3:5. 

3.  The  preparation  for  life — 

a— "I  will  stand  upon  my  watch"— Self-exami- 
nation. 

b — "And  set  me  upon  the  tower" — The  greater 
vision. 

c — "And  will  watch  to  see  what  He  will  say  unto 
me" — The  divine  direction.     Habakkuk  2 : 1. 

4.  The  assurance  of  life — 

"Certainly  I  will  be  with  thee."  Exodus  3 :  10 
to  12. 

5.  The  sense  of  mission — 

"It  was  not  you  that  sent  me  hither,  but  God." 
Genesis  45 :  8. 

6.  The  conquering  life — 

"Why  could  not  we  cast  him  out?" 

"If  ye  have  faith  as  a  grain  of  mustard  seed," 

etc.      Matt.  17 :  19,  20. 

Fourth  Series— On  Parable  of  "Benignant  Father" 
Luke  15 

1.  Breaking  home  ties— "He  gathered  all  together 

and  took  himself  to  a  far  country." 

2.  Life  in  the  far  country— "He  sent  him  into  his 

field  to  feed  swine,"  etc. 

3.  Self-recovery— "He  came  to  himself." 

4.  The  new  impulse — "I  will  arise  and  go  to  my 

father." 


68       A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

5.  The  father's   welcome — "When  his  father  saw 

him,"  etc. 

6.  Back  home. 

The  above  texts  and  themes  are  not  neces- 
sarily in  order  of  sequence.  An  opportunity 
should  be  made  to  instruct  the  people  in  the 
Church's  ways  and  habits,  but  everything 
should  be  subordinated  to  the  one  supreme 
theme ;  ^^there  is  none  other  name  under  heaven 
given  among  men,  whereby  we  must  be  saved" ; 
"God  so  loved  the  world  that  He  gave  His  only 
begotten  Son  that  whosoever  believeth  in  Him 
should  not  perish  but  have  everlasting  life." 

A  Sunday  Mass  There  should  be  held  on  Sunday 
Meeting  for  Men  afternoou  at  a  convenient  hour  a 
mass  meeting  for  men.  Our  experience  bas 
demonstrated  the  large  wisdom  of  such  a  meet- 
ing and  the  results  accruing  from  it  have  been 
among  the  most  valuable  in  the  mission's  enter- 
prise. Such  a  meeting  should  be  quite  informal 
in  character,  and  the  address  should  be  exceed- 
ingly personal  and  bear  directly  upon  those  im- 
portant questions  that  are  peculiarly  related  to 
masculine  life.  The  meeting  affords  oppor- 
tunity for  an  intimate  touch  and  fellowship  be- 
tween missioner  and  men.  Much  should  be 
made  of  the  singing  at  this  meeting,  and  it 
might  be  possible  to  have  one  or  more  laymen 
supplement  the  missioner's  address  with  brief 


A  PARISH  PROGRAMME  69 

remarks  bearing  upon  the  layman  and  his  im- 
portant place  in  the  Church's  life. 

The  Value  of  That  the  mission  must  lead  up  to 
Acknowledged  an  acknowledged  conviction  of  the 
Conviction  j^gg^^  ^f  Jesus  Christ  as  a  personal 

Saviour  seems  too  obvious  to  call  for  comment 
here;  yet,  there  are  those  who  feel  that  any 
open  exhibition  of  a  desire  to  lead  a  new  life 
or  a  public  acknowledgment  of  the  supremacy 
of  Christ  is  both  undignified  and  unnecessary. 
This  is  disproved  by  the  experience  of  every 
experienced  and  successful  missioner.  Someone 
has  said,  "We  do  not  preach  as  though  we  sought 
a  verdict/'  hence  the  congregation,  which  is  the 
jury,  all  too  frequently  fails  to  give  acknowl- 
edgment to  the  claims  we  present.  We  submit 
it  as  our  personal  experience  that  a  mission 
without  its  heart-searching  and  its  open  expres- 
sion of  need,  is  little  more  than  an  artificial 
stimulant  or  tonic  that  serves  the  parish  and 
community  but  for  a  brief  period.  Baptism 
and  confirmation  are  the  gateways  of  access 
to  the  larger  things  of  our  household  of  faith, 
and  that  they  should  be  stressed  definitely  and 
firmly  as  means  of  grace  through  which  the 
family  of  Christ  is  enlarged  and  enriched,  we 
believe  most  strongly.  Our  mission  preaching 
must  have  an  end  and  aim,  and  while  its  pri- 
mary purpose  is  to   present  afresh   the   great 


70       A  NATION-WIDE   PREACHING  MISSION 

claims  of  Jesns  Christ,  there  must  (if  it  is  to 
have  permanent  value)  be  a  demand  for  an  open 
recognition  and  acknowledgment  and  acceptance 
of  these  claims. 

Every  missioner  is  conscious  of  the  fact 
that  the  mission  in  itself  is  but  a  means  to  an 
end.  If  it  be  but  a  spectacular,  sporadic,  ephem- 
eral thing,  it  is  of  little  worth,  hence  the 
failure  of  all  ill-conceived,  ill-administered  re- 
vivals. The  mission  that  is  the  most  success- 
ful is  the  one  that  discloses  the  least  machinery, 
and  the  missioner  who  is  the  most  efficient  is 
the  man  who  abandons  himself  to  the  Spirit's 
power.  The  mission  that  simply  stirs  the  sur- 
face of  the  parochial  waters  without  touching 
the  depths,  that  satisfies  itself  with  great  out- 
pourings of  people,  is  unworthy  of  the  endorse- 
ment and  support  of  those  who  yearn  for  the 
permanent  things  of  righteousness.  What  the 
tonic  is  to  the  jaded  life  the  mission  is  to  the 
tired  and  enervated  soul.  What  fresh  enthu- 
siasm is  to  the  man  or  woman  worn  with  life's 
battle,  the  mission  is  to  the  rector  and  parish 
that  have  grown  "stale,"  whose  springs  of  fresh- 
ness and  enthusiasm  have  dried  up.  If  the 
period  of  convalescence  with  the  sick  is  of  so 
great  importance  in  restoring  fulness  of  health, 
then  we  may  say  that  the  period  following  the 
mission  in  which  the  souls  of  men  and  women 
have  been  refreshed  and  renewed  is  one  that 


A  PARISH  PROGRAMME  71 

should  be  carefully  considered  and  supervised. 
An  awakened  parish  means  new  activities  and 
a  more  intensive  service;  let  us  hope  that  it 
may  mean  greater  definiteness  and  perseverance 
in  the  prosecution  of  the  things  of  the  Kingdom. 
The  effects  of  a  mission  must  continue  long 
after  the  last  note  has  subsided,  and  the  whole 
aim  of  its  work  should  be  the  strengthening 
and  buttressing  of  the  walls  of  God's  Church. 


SUGGESTIONS  FOR  A  MISSION 

By  the  Rt.  Rev.  Reginald  H.  Wellee,  D.D. 
Bishop  of  Fond  du  Lac 

I_The  First,    be    careful    to    secure    the 

Preparation  active  cooperatiou  of  the  most 
earnest  members  of  the  congregation.  This  is 
essential.  After  explaining  to  them  exactly 
what  the  mission  is  intended  to  accomplish,  the 
means  to  be  employed,  and  their  part  in  both 
prayer  and  active  labor,  organize  them  into  a 
Mission  band. 

Secure  your  missioner  and  fix  the  date. 

Preach  a  sermon  with  the  purpose  of  arous- 
ing interest  in  and  a  personal  desire  on  the  part 
of  all  members  of  the  congregation  for  the  mis- 
sion, explaining  definitely  what  the  mission  is, 
its  purpose,  and  the  means  employed.  Tell  the 
people  that  all  guild  meetings  and  other  paro- 
chial activities  will  be  suspended  during  the 
mission  and  that  only  a  great  effort  can  produce 
the  results  desired,  that  all  communicants  and 
others  who  desire  to  take  part  in  the  mission 


SUGGESTIONS  FOR  A  MISSION  73 

should  make  its  services  a  first  and  definite 
appointment  so  far  as  imperative  business  and 
household  duties  will  pei^it.  Impress  upon 
them  the  fact  that  constant  and  general  prayer 
is  essential,  and  urge  upon  all  earnest  persons 
individual  effort  to  arouse  in  others  a  desire 
for  the  mission. 

Have  a  brief,  terse  collect  for  the  mission, 
approved  by  the  Bishop,  printed  and  distributed 
m  the  pews.  From  the  beginning  of  the  prep- 
aration use  this  prayer  at  all  public  services, 
and  urge  its  general  use  in  family  and  private 
prayers  by  all  communicants  and  other  inter- 
ested persons. 

The  mission  should  consist  of  two  essen- 
tial parts :  a  daily  celebration  of  the  Holy  Eu- 
charist early  (two  on  Sundays)  and  a  mission 
service  every  evening.  Prepare  and  have 
printed  as  many  copies  as  necessary  of  a  promise 
in  the  following,  or  similar,  words: 

"In  the  Name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of 
the  Holy  Ghost.  I  will  make  an  earnest  effort,  with 
God  s  help,  to  attend  the  Holy  Eucharist  each  morning 

during  the  Mission  at   Church'^ 

^'°°^   (date)    to    .'.'.    (date/ 

"^  on days.     Signed 

Date    

The  pastor  and  members  of  his  Mission  band 
should  try  to  get  every  communicant  to  sign  this 
promise  either  for  every  day  in  the  mission  or 


74       A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

for  definite  specified  days  during  the  mission. 
This  is  by  no  means  a  general  practice  at  mis- 
sions, but  in  my  own  limited  experience  it  is 
not  only  of  great  benefit,  but  the  success  of  a 
mission  has  been  proportionate  to  the  number 
of  these  promises  signed  and  kept.  It  may,  of 
course,  be  explained  that  persons  can  attend  a 
celebration  of  the  Holy  Eucharist  for  worship 
and  prayer,  even  though  they  do  not  intend  to 
receive  Holy  Communion  at  that  time.  Such 
a  pledge  and  such  attendance  puts  the  emphasis 
of  the  mission  in  the  right  place,  on  God  and 
not  on  the  missioner.  It  will  not  only  empha- 
size the  Holy  Eucharist  as  the  great  act  of  wor- 
ship and  intercession  but  the  value  of  the  peo- 
ple's prayers  and  intercessions,  and  the  effort 
to  get  these  promises  signed  will  emphasize  the 
importance  of  the  mission  and  individual  in- 
terest and  responsibility.  It  will  also  give  the 
pastor  and  his  Mission  band  a  definite  reason 
for  calling  on  every  communicant. 

Constant  prayer  with  individual  work  on 
these  lines  should  last  from  the  first  effort  at 
preparation  until  the  mission. 

It  would  be  well  also  for  the  missioner  and 
the  pastor  to  prepare  and  print  a  brief  outline 
of  definite  prayers  and  intercessions  to  be  used 
privately  by  the  people,  not  only  in  preparation 
for  the  mission,  but  privately  at  the  daily 
Eucharists   while   the   mission   is   in   progress. 


SUGGESTIONS  FOR  A  MISSION  75 

These  suggestions  of  prayers  should  be  for  the 
needs  of  the  person  praying,  such  as  a  deeper 
penitence,  more  regular  and  faithful  self-exami- 
nation and  confession  of  sin,  greater  devotion 
in  private  and  in  family  prayers,  more  frequent 
and  more  regular  attendance  upon  the  Church's 
worship,  especially  on  Sundays  and  the  greater 
holy  days,  definite  and  regular  active  work  in 
some  form  for  our  holy  religion,  etc.  The  in- 
tercessions will,  of  course,  be  for  the  conversion 
of  others.  ''When  the  Church  sets  itself  to 
pray  with  the  same  seriousness  and  strength  of 
purpose  that  it  has  devoted  to  other  forms  of 
Christian  eifort,  it  will  see  the  Kingdom  of 
God  come  with  power." 

2— The  There  should  be  a  daily  Eucharist, 

Mission  two  on  Sundays,  and  if  there  is 

more  than  one  priest,  there  may  be  two  or  more 
Holy  Eucharists  on  weekdays  as  well  as  Sun- 
days, but  on  weekdays  they  should  all  be  at 
some  early  hours  near  together,  but  convenient 
for  the  people. 

There  may  be  a  Children's  Mission,  but  if 
so,  there  should  be  two  missioners,  one  of  them 
especially  qualified  for  that  work.  A  missioner 
who  could  do  that  work  successfully  will  give 
all  the  details  which  the  pastor  may  need  in 
advance. 

There  may  be  one  or  more  Bible  classes  at 


76       A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

convenient  hours  for  men  or  women,  or  both, 
but  this  is  not  necessary,  and  where  there  is 
only  one  missioner  the  work  is  too  heavy  and 
long-sustained  for  this.  Moreover,  many  serv- 
ices are  sometimes  distracting,  and  it  may  be 
better  to  lay  the  emphasis  on  two  great  services 
rather  than  on  many. 

The  Mission  Service  in  the  evening  consists 
of  two  parts,  an  instruction  and  a  sermon. 

The  instruction  in  a  mission  of  the  nature 
proposed  by  the  Commission  on  E'ation-wide 
Preaching  should,  I  think,  cover  the  funda- 
mentals of  the  Faith,  following  either  the  lines 
of  the  Creed,  or  the  usual  order  in  works  on 
dogmatic  theology.  They  should  be  very  simple 
and  practical,  but  they  should  also  go  deep  into 
the  heart  of  the  matter.  In  preparation  for 
those  instructions  I  would  suggest  as  text  books 
such  works  as  Darwell  Stone's  Outlines,'^  or  Dr. 
Barry's  Meditations  on  the  Apostles'  Greed.\ 

While  the  instructions  are  aimed  primarily 
at  the  understanding,  the  sermon  must  reach  the 
emotions  and  the  will.  They  must  be,  in  other 
words,  what  are  ordinarily  called  evangelical 
or  gospel  sermons.  There  are  many  different 
lines  which  may  be  followed  and  each  missioner 


*  Outlines    of    Christian   Dogma.      Longmans,    $1.50. 
t  Meditations  on  the  Apostles'  Creed.    Gorham,  $2.00. 


SUGGESTIONS  FOR  A  MISSION  77 

will  naturally  choose  his  own  line  of  thought, 
with  very  familiar  subject  matter. 

One  might,  for  instance,  choose  a  series  cov- 
ering the  ISTativity  and  the  Passion,  such  as  the 
following:  (1)  The  I^ativity  of  St.  John  the 
Baptist,  as  the  Answer  to  Prayer  (Acts  1:  13), 
showing  how  God  kept  in  His  heart  the  prayer 
which  Zacharias  and  his  wife  prayed  when  they 
were  young  and  answered  it  long  afterwards 
when  they  thought  that  it  was  impossible.  (2) 
The  E'ativity  of  our  Lord,  dwelling  upon  the 
Infinite  Love  expressed  in  the  Incarnation. 
(3)  The  Announcement  of  our  Lord's  ^N'ativity 
to  the  Angels  in  the  hill  country  of  Judea,  em- 
phasizing the  whole  supeiTiatural  world.  (4) 
The  Epiphany.  (5)  The  Calling  of  St.  Andrew 
and  St.  John  (St.  John  1:35-41).  (6)  The 
Calling  of  St.  Peter  (St.  John  1 :  41-43).  (7) 
The  Calling  of  SS.  Philip  and  IsTathaniel  (St. 
John  1 :  43  to  end).  (8)  Our  Lord's  last  effort 
to  save  Judas  (St.  Matthew  26:50),  dwelling 
upon  the  address — ^Triend" — and  the  effort 
to  get  him  to  answer  a  question,  which,  if  he  had 
answered  it,  must  have  produced  penitence  and 
pardon.  Judas  lost  his  soul,  not  primarily  for 
what  he  had  done,  which  might  have  been  for- 
given, but  because  he  would  not  answer  this 
question.  (9)  The  Love  of  our  Lord  in  the 
Great  Sacrifice.  (10)  The  Resurrection.  (11) 
The  Pirst  Appearance  to  St.  Peter  (St.  Luke 


78       A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

24:  34),  1  Cor.  15:  5).  The  silence  that  sur- 
roTinds  it.  Considering  St.  Peter's  sin,  it  could 
only  have  meant  confession;  and  considering 
who  our  Lord  is,  it  could  only  have  meant  abso- 
lution. (12)  Heaven  (St.  Matt.  5,  first  half  of 
verse  12;  Rest,  Heb.  4:9).  J^ot  the  absence 
of  toil  but  of  all  things  which  distress  here: 
sin,  poverty,  pain,  etc.  Joy  unspeakable  and 
full  of  glory  (1  St.  Peter  1:8).  Joy,  not  only 
of  meeting  our  loved  ones,  but  of  seeing  God, 
and  glory,  not  only  the  "Well  done,  good  and 
faithful  servant,"  but  the  fulness  of  our  union 
with  God  in  Christ. 

These,  of  course,  are  merely  suggestions  of 
how  a  missioner  can  select  a  series  of  subjects 
in  the  Life  of  our  Lord.  Or  one  might  intro- 
duce sermons  on  the  Miracles  of  our  Lord  along 
lines  like  those  used  by  Archbishop  Lang  of 
York,  in  his  book.  The  Miracles  of  Jesus,^  but 
they  should  have  a  definite  beginning  and  foun- 
dation, dwelling  especially  on  the  Love  of  God 
in  Christ,  and  reaching  a  practical  climax. 

The  sermon  usually  precedes  the  instruction, 
on  the  theory  that  an  evangelical  sermon  will 
prepare  one  for  the  reception  of  the  dogmatic 
Faith.  On  the  other  hand,  I  have  found  it 
sometimes  helpful  in  a  mission  of  this  nature  to 
give  the  instruction  first,  that  people  may  leave 


*  The  Miracles  of  Jesus.    Button,  $1.50. 


SUGGESTIONS  FOR  A  MISSION  79 

the  church  with  the  fixed  purpose  which  the 
sermon  is  intended  to  inculcate,  on  the  analogy 
of  the  seed  planted  first  and  growing  afterwards. 

One  may  begin  the  mission  service  with  a 
hymn,  short  chapter,  not  longer  than  one  of  the 
Gospels  in  the  office  of  the  Holy  Eucharist,  a 
hymn,  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  two  or  three  brief, 
appropriate  collects,  the  Grace  of  our  Lord,  etc., 
a  hymn,  sermon,  hymn,  instruction,  hymn,  col- 
lect, and  blessing.  Or  (1)  a  hymn,  (2)  instruc- 
tion, (3)  hymn,  (4)  short  chapter,  prayer,  col- 
lects, and  Lord's  Prayer,  (5)  hymn,  (6)  ser- 
mon, (7)  collect  and  blessing.  This  entire  mis- 
sion service  should  not  take  longer  than  an  hour 
and  a  half  at  most. 

'No  collection  should  ever  be  taken  at  the 
mission  service  in  the  evening,  and  in  fact  any 
necessary  financial  arrangements  should  entirely 
precede  the  mission.  It  is  a  great  mistake  to 
have  appeals  for  money  made  while  the  mission 
is  in  progress.  Of  course  a  collection  may  be 
taken  at  any  celebration  of  the  Holy  Eucharist. 

The  missioner  or  missioners  should  never 
accept  invitations  to  dinner,  or  to  any  social 
functions,  during  the  mission,  and  each  of  them 
should  always  be  accessible  to  everybody  who 
wants  to  see  him.  To  this  end,  he  should  have 
his  regmlar  daily  and  publicly-announced  hours 
in  the  church,   remembering  always  that  one 


80       A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

gathers  the  fruit  of  a  mission  in  the  personal 
contact  with  individuals. 

There  should  be  a  Resolution  Card  printed, 
with  suggested  resolutions  and  with  blank 
spaces  for  special  resolutions;  and  every  effort 
should  be  made  to  have  people  make  at  least  one 
good  resolution  as  a  result  of  a  thankoffering  for 
the  mission.  It  would  be  well  for  each  person 
to  consult  the  missioner,  or,  if  that  may  not 
be,  the  pastor,  or  at  least  some  priest,  before 
definitely  making  his  or  her  resolution.  These 
resolutions  gather  up  in  a  practical  way  the 
fruit  of  the  mission,  and  they  are  sometimes 
gathered  on  the  almsbasins  as  a  special  offering 
to  God  at  the  last  service  of  the  mission,  which 
should  be  a  celebration  of  the  Holy  Eucharist 
in  thanksgiving  for  the  blessings  vouchsafed 
during  the  mission. 

This  article  is  so  long  that  I  cannot  deal 
with  the  after-work  further  than  to  say  that  it 
is  a  fatal  mistake  to  imagine  the  work  done 
when  the  missioner  is  gone,  and  that  a  mission 
involves  a  specially  active  pastoral  work  imme- 
diately afterwards  to  guide  people  whom  God 
has  moved,  during  the  mission,  into  the 
Church's  path  of  the  spiritual  life. 

For  many  details  it  would  be  well  to  get 
literature  from  the  Holy  Cross  fathers,  the 
Cowley  fathers,  or  some  parochial  missionary 
society  or  recognized  missioner. 


THE  MISSION  AS  RELATED  TO  RURAL 
CONDITIONS 

By  the  Kt.  Kev.  I^^ATHANIEL  S.  Thomas,  D.D. 
Bishop  of  Wyoming 

A  S  rural  conditions  are  practically  the  condi- 
-^^  tions  of  the  whole  continental  domestic 
missionary  field,  the  difference  being  mainly 
one  of  population  and  in  the  distances  between 
the  preaching  points,  I  shall  deal  with  my  sub- 
ject with  particular  reference  to  a  frontier  expe- 
rience. 

First  let  me  note  some  of  the  conditions 
which  a  thorough-going  prosecution  of  an  ex- 
tended mission  must  consider. 

The  clergy  are  far  apart,  the  people  are  scat- 
tered; the  clergyman  is  an  itinerant;  the  ''ser- 
mon barrel"  is  small,  for  each  sermon  is  put  into 
requisition  as  many  times  at  least  as  there  are 
stations  to  serve.  The  people  are  consequently 
trained  in  a  more  or  less  haphazard  way.  Se- 
quential teaching  becomes  more  difficult  and 
well  instructed  Church  people  are  rare.     The 


82       A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

missionary,  moreover,  has  not  the  leisure  for 
study  afforded  the  parish  priest.  His  sermons 
are  likely  to  lack  adequate  subject  matter  and 
analysis.  They  are  likely  to  possess,  strongly, 
human  qualities,  for  this  is  the  element  most 
likely  to  improve  by  repetition.  Both  minister 
and  people  need  an  experience  of  analytical 
study  and  sequential  teaching.  Moreover,  the 
city  is  full  of  stimulus  of  every  sort,  not  so  the 
country. 

Under  rural  conditions  a  clergyman  should 
not  be  long  away  from  his  field  of  service.  In 
the  city  when  the  rector  is  on  his  holiday  of 
two  or  three  months,  his  assistant  takes  his 
place.  If  he  have  no  assistant,  he  knows  that 
within  ten  squares  the  sick  friend  or  dying  pa- 
rishioner can  call  upon  another  man  of  God  for 
comfort  or  assistance.  He  may  thus  prolong 
his  holiday  without  loss  to  his  work.  Moreover, 
it  is  his  filling  time — a  box  of  books  invariably 
accompanies  the  industrious  city  rector  on  his 
holiday.  The  missionary,  whether  Bishop  or 
deacon,  finds  study  almost  an  impossibility. 

As  to  the  distribution  of  clergymen,  it  is 
manifest  that  one-third  to  one-half  of  the  paro- 
chial clergy  list  could  be  withdrawn  from  the 
activities  of  a  city  without  loss  save  to  sentiment 
and  convenience. 

It  is  also  manifest  that  in  the  country  there 
are  innumerable  centers;  churches,  schools,  and 


RUEAL  CONDITIONS  83 

court  houses,  where  missions  could  be  held  most 
profitably  if  only  the  missioners  were  to  be  had. 
So  let  it  be  clearly  understood  at  the  outset, 
that  if  the  frontier  and  the  rural  districts  are  to 
be  included  within  a  mission  to  be  conducted 
within  a  well  defined  and  restricted  limit  of 
time,  every  active  clergyman  of  the  Church 
should  be  put  into  requisition  and  the  city 
overflow  turned  into  the  country.  And  this 
seems  to  be  the  only  course  to  pursue,  even  were 
the  programme  less  ambitious  than  a  nation- 
wide mission. 

There  are  but  three  possible  courses  to  fol- 
low: 

1.  To  rely  upon  trained  missioners. 

2.  To  rely  upon  trainable  missioners  or 
those  who  appear  as  likely  to  develop  into  effect- 
ive missioners. 

3.  To  rely  upon  the  whole  tody  of  the 
clergy. 

The  Church  has  so  few  trained  missioners 
that  this  alternative  is  to  be  at  once  rejected. 
The  other  has  practical  difficulties.  Who  will 
train  or  who  will  prophetically  and  with  fine 
discrimination  select  the  likely  men  for  effect- 
ive work?  Any  attempt,  however  successful, 
is  sure  to  result  in  serious  mistakes  and  leave 
behind  many  heartburnings. 

Moreover,  if  the  mission  is  to  be  as  much 
for  the  benefit  of  the  clergy  as  the  people,  all 


84       A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

the  clergy  should  be  pressed  into  service.  Most 
of  the  clergy  will  feel  their  inadequacy  and 
lack  of  equipment,  particularly  the  rural  clergy, 
and  if  the  rural  clergy  as  a  whole  are  not 
pressed  into  service  it  will  be  difficult  to  weather 
the  flood  of  declinations  which  will  surely  ensue 
on  any  selective  basis. 

Thus  it  appears  that,  if  the  mission  is  to 
be  conducted  as  a  ISTation-wide  Preaching  Mis- 
sion, all  the  clergy  of  the  Church  must  take 
part  and  the  problem  becomes  one  of  distribu- 
tion rather  than  of  selection. 

The  question  of  distribution  becomes  more 
complicated  on  the  frontier  in  that  most  of  our 
clergy,  and  be  it  said  even  those  in  self-support- 
ing parishes,  have  more  than  one  mission  or 
preaching  station.  One  of  our  clergy  in  Wyo- 
ming has  seven  regular  preaching  stations  and 
another  six.  The  missionary  having  six  stations 
also  travels  weekly  125  miles  by  motor.  Thus 
the  problem  becomes  complicated  not  only  by 
the  number  of  places  to  be  reached,  but  by  the 
distances  between  them. 

Referring  again  to  Wyoming:  there  are 
eighty-one  reported  stations  regularly  visited 
by  twenty-four  clergymen.  Were  each  of  our 
missionaries  to  undertake  to  preach  a  mission, 
he  would,  if  he  preached  in  all  of  his  stations, 
be  obliged  to  spend  so  short  a  time  in  each  as 
to  be  ineifective. 


RURAL  CONDITIONS  85 

Some  preaching  stations  where  the  need  of 
stimulation  and  instruction  is  greatest,  must 
therefore  be  omitted,  unless  the  city  clergy  can 
be  used  in  large  numbers  for  this  supply,  and 
missioners  hold  more  than  one  mission.  We 
have  neglected  the  country.  To  illustrate  the 
importance  of  the  neglected  hamlet — one  of  our 
women  workers  this  summer  presented  for  con- 
firmation eight  persons  from  two  towns  out  of 
a  population  numbering  respectively  28  and  25. 

The  time:  When  then  should  the  mission 
begin,  when  should  it  end  ? 

For  the  current  year,  Christmas  falls  most 
fortunately  on  a  Saturday,  so  that  a  whole  week 
may  be  given  for  the  necessary  Christmas  prep- 
arations which  devolve  on  every  clergyman,  if 
the  missions  generally  close  on  December  19th. 
A  two  weeks'  mission  would  throw  us  back  to 
the  evening  of  December  5th,  when  the  mission 
in  Station  B  might  begin.  This  would  leave 
the  morning  of  December  5th  as  the  time  when 
the  mission  in  Station  A  might  end.  This 
would  throw  us  back  again  to  the  morning  of 
E'ovember  21st,  the  Sunday  next  before  Advent, 
as  the  time  when  the  mission  in  Station  A 
should  begin. 

To  execute  this  plan,  which  enables  the  mis- 
sion to  begin  and  close  on  a  Sunday,  it  is  neces- 
sary that  each  missioner  should  hold  his  two 
missions  within  a  few  hours  distance  of  each 


86       A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

other.  Assuming  that  there  are  far  more  places 
where  a  mission  should  be  held,  even  though 
every  active  clergyman  be  pressed  into  service 
than  the  supply  will  cover,  it  seems  necessary 
to  conclude  that  every  clergyman  should  prepare 
himself  as  best  he  may  to  be  a  missioner,  and 
each  missioner  should  prepare  himself  to  hold 
a  mission  in  at  least  two  places.  In  Wyoming 
all  of  our  men  will  serve  as  missioners,  so  that 
our  problem  is  one  merely  of  preparation  and 
distribution. 

Mrs.  Clinton  Ogilvie  of  'New  York 
reparaion  -^^^  made  it  possible  for  several 
years  past  for  the  clergy  of  some  of  our  mis- 
sionary districts  to  meet  for  intellectual  profit 
and  social  intercourse  once  a  year — a  provision 
but  for  which  our  clergy  would  see  one  another 
at  no  time  save  at  convocation.  This  year  our 
mornings  of  this  Ogilvie  Conference  will  be 
given  up  as  usual  to  the  reading  and  discussion 
of  papers,  but  our  afternoons  will  be  turned 
into  a  school  of  the  clergy,  at  which  time  the 
Bishop  proposes  to  outline  addresses  suitable 
for  mission  purposes  and  to  call  our  experiences 
from  the  clergy,  illustrative  of  the  themes. 

May  I  here  venture  my  own  opinion,  that 
where  it  is  possible  for  a  missioner  to  develop 
sufficient  fresh  material  so  as  to  prepare  four- 
teen or  more  virile  addresses  before  the  Advent 


RURAL  CONDITIONS  87 

season,  without  calling  upon  his  reserve  of  ser- 
mon matter,  out  of  which  he  has  drawn  the  ser- 
mons preached  before  his  present  charge,  there 
can  be  no  doubt  but  that  he  would  do  well  him- 
self to  hold  the  mission  or  missions  for  his 
own  people?  Speaking  out  of  my  experience, 
this  severe  task,  hard  enough  for  a  parish  priest, 
when  set  in  the  midst  of  a  missionary's  arduous 
traveling,  is  practically  impossible.  On  the  con- 
trary, most  missioners  have  sufficient  reserve, 
out  of  which  may  be  drawn  the  foundation  at 
least  of  fourteen  straightforward  addresses  on 
vital  subjects  which  with  slight  modifications 
and  rearrangements  and  with  careful  selection 
as  to  logical  sequence  will  prove  quite  adequate 
for  a  successful  mission,  provided  the  hearers 
are  not  familiar  with  the  matter. 

In  the  cities  and  more  important 

Distribution  ,  i  i      i  •  i 

towns,  a  purely  selective  plan  may 
naturally  be  followed.  Where  clergymen  select 
their  own  missioners,  it  should  be  done  with 
the  advice  and  consent  of  the  central  commit- 
tee, or  confusion  will  result.  No  such  extended 
effort  as  this  nation-wide  mission  can  be  suc- 
cessful without  the  team  spirit  and  a  close 
organization. 

Suggestions  for  the  Organization: 
In  many  places,  no  doubt,  a  specially  created 
body  will  plan  for  the  prosecution  of  the  mis- 


88       A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

sion  in  each  diocese  and  district.  In  Wyoming, 
advantage  will  be  taken  of  the  already  estab- 
lished system  of  deaneries.  Here  there  are  six 
deaneries  and  twenty-one  counties,  giving  each 
dean  a  territory  to  administer  on  the  average 
of  three  and  one-half  counties,  each  county 
being,  roughly,  as  large  as  the  state  of  Connec- 
ticut, with  three  men  beside  himself  to  cover  it. 
It  is  plain  that  in  a  region  so  far  flung  a  central 
committee,  if  at  all  representative  of  the  vari- 
ous sections  of  the  state,  can  meet  but  once  for 
general  planning.  It  is  probable  that  our  com- 
mittee will  arrange  a  plan  somewhat  as  follows : 

The  rectors  of  the  larger  parishes  where 
pastoral  requirements  are  likely  to  be  more 
pressing  may  insist  upon  an  exchange  with  each 
other.  This  should  be  for  but  one  of  the  two 
missions  involved;  the  other  mission,  how- 
ever, he  should  hold  somewhere  near  at  home. 
This  will  free  him  from  the  necessity  of  being 
out  of  reach  of  his  parish  for  more  than  two 
weeks  at  a  time,  when  parochial  direction  is 
much  needed.  As  this  mutual  exchange  will 
be  confined  to  the  Deans,  it  will  also  enable 
each  Dean  to  spend  a  fortnight  at  some  stra- 
tegic spot  within  his  own  deanery,  which  is 
obviously  desirable. 

The  other  clergy  will  be  assigned  by  the 
Deans  to  places  within  their  own  deanery.  This 
will  effect  a  great  saving  of  expense  and  will 


RURAL  CONDITIONS  89 

bring  the  missionaries  of  each  deanery  into  two 
other  places  beside  their  own,  but  within  such 
striking  distance  as  to  be  desirable  for  pastoral 
purposes.  It  is  well  for  the  people  of  a  com- 
munity to  know  the  clergyman  nearest  to  their 
own,  for  pastoral  needs  are  continuous  and  mis- 
sions are  frequently  without  a  missionary. 

I  have  ventured  thus  largely  in  the  general 
presentation  of  my  topic  to  refer  to  Wyoming, 
its  condition  and  the  manner  in  which  the  mis- 
sion is  to  be  conducted  here,  for  the  reason  that 
my  experience  of  rural  conditions  has  been  con- 
fined to  Wyoming  and  because  Wyoming  is 
typical  of  that  most  difficult  phase  of  the  rural 
problem,  the  sparsely  settled  frontier. 

Even  those  generally  approving  of  the  plan 
which  I  have  presented  as  operative  in  Wyo- 
ming, may  have  to  modify  it  in  detail.  In 
dioceses  or  districts  where  the  deanery  system 
does  not  prevail,  a  central  committee  consisting 
of  representatives  from  all  sections  of  the  dio- 
cese, should  be  able  to  serve  equally  well,  so 
far  as  the  distribution  of  missioners  is  con- 
cerned, the  main  points  being  that  missioners 
should  be  assigned  by  those  who  know  person- 
ally both  the  missioner  and  the  field,  and  that 
the  assignment  should  be  near  the  missioner' s 
field  of  labor. 

To  recapitulate: 

(a)    Generally,    missioners    should    be    as- 


90       A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

signed,    the    assignment    being    near    the    mis- 
sioner's  field  of  labor. 

(b)  Each  mission  should  last  not  less  than 
two  weeks  and  each  missioner  should  conduct 
two  missions  in  two  places. 

(c)  Some  provision  should  be  made  for  the 
preparation  of  the  missioners  for  their  work. 

In  this  review  I  have  purposely  omitted 
considering  the  preparation  for  the  mission 
itself,  as  not  being  peculiar  to  my  subject;  the 
central  committee  must,  however,  give  the 
matter  careful  attention,  as  the  success  of  this 
great  venture  of  faith  is  dependent  greatly  upon 
the  reenforcement  received  before,  during  and 
after  the  active  conduct  of  the  mission. 


THE  LAYMAN'S  CONTRIBUTION* 

By  George  Wjiarton  Pepper 

THE  !N'ation-wide  Preaching  Mission  is  an 
effort  on  the  part  of  the  Episcopal  Church 
to  express  itself.  The  self-expression  should 
not  be  formal  or  official.  Anybody  who  has  a 
message  should  have  a  hearing.  This  means 
that  the  voices  of  laymen  may  be  raised  as  well 
as  those  of  the  clergy. 

There  are  several  reasons  why  laymen 
should  make  their  own  peculiar  contribution  to 
the  mission. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  well  to  dispel  the  im- 
pression that  the  men  in  the  pews  are  all  merely 
perfunctory  Christians  and  that  they  are  not 
really  in  earnest  in  their  profession.  There  is 
in  fact  much  depth  of  feeling  and  conviction 
among  them  and  this  should  be  manifested  to 

*  This  paper  has  also  been  published  separately  in 
booklet  form,  and  may  be  obtained  from  tlie  publishers 
at  5  cts.  per  copy  or  $4.00  per  liundred. 


92       A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

offset  the  carelessness  of  the  many  who  are  in- 
different. 

It  is  also  true  that  when  a  layman  speaks 
he  often  makes  an  impression  which  a  clergy- 
man fails  to  make.  If,  indeed,  the  speaker  is 
merely  indulging  his  taste  for  oratory  or  grati- 
fying a  passion  to  be  prominent,  this  is  quickly 
perceived  by  his  fellows  and  they  at  once  shut 
their  ears.  But  usually  the  utterance  of  a  lay- 
man on  a  religious  subject  is  an  utterance  to 
which  other  laymen  give  heed. 

When  it  comes  to  speaking  on  such  a  sub- 
ject, most  laymen  are  stifled  by  self -conscious- 
ness. On  the  whole  this  is  a  lesser  danger  than 
the  temptation  of  the  clergymen  to  be  official 
and  unreal.  But  a  man  who  has  convictions  on 
great  subjects  ought  to  realize  that  he  is  under 
a  duty  to  bear  his  witness.  He  must  conquer 
himself  and  speak  out. 

'Nor  can  he  shun  this  duty  by  pleading  that 
he  is  not  a  fluent  speaker.  The  world  needs 
not  words  that  flow  but  words  that  stick. 

The  fact  that  the  man  has  genuine  convic- 
tions gives  sufficient  assurance  that  if  he  makes 
up  his  mind  to  speak  at  all  he  will  speak  con- 
vincingly. The  question  is  not  whether  a  man 
can  speak  well  but  whether  he  is  really  in 
earnest. 

Brother  Churchman,  are  there  not  some 
things  about  which  you  feel  deeply  and  of  which 


THE  LAYMAN'S  CONTRIBUTION  93 

it  would  do  other  laymen  good  to  hear  ?  If  so, 
the  E^ation-wide  Preaching  Mission  is  your  op- 
portunity. Offer  yourself  to  those  who  are  in 
charge  and  they  will  see  to  it  that  your  message 
gets  a  hearing. 

Almost  unconsciously  I  am  myself  adopting 
the  tone  of  an  exhorter.  I  am  assuming  a  re- 
luctance upon  the  part  of  the  layman  to  make 
his  contribution.  I  am  seeking  to  anticipate 
his  objections  and  to  drive  him  to  an  admission 
that  this  particular  piece  of  the  Lord's  business 
is  his  business  as  well.  Sometimes  it  is  easier 
for  a  man  to  perceive  his  friend's  fitness  to 
speak  than  to  recognize  his  own.  If  so,  let  it  be 
one  layman's  contribution  to  show  to  his  neigh- 
bor that  the  neighbor  should  put  his  time  and 
service  at  the  disposal  of  the  cause.  Several 
people  in  a  congregation  might  unite  in  ap- 
proaching one  of  their  brethren  and  so  give 
him  a  call  to  speak  to  which  he  could  not  well 
turn  a  deaf  ear. 

It  is  not  necessary  that  a  man  should  be 
learned  in  theology  in  order  to  be  a  useful  lay 
preacher.  The  message  of  the  mission  is  to  be 
the  simplest  as  well  as  the  most  compelling  of 
all  messages.  It  is  in  fact  nothing  else  but  the 
Gospel — the  Good  "News — that  God  so  loved  the 
world  that  He  gave  His  Only-Begotten  Son  to 
the  end  that  whosoever  believeth  on  Him  should 
not  perish  but  have  everlasting  life.     The  lay- 


94       A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

man's  sins  and  the  layman's  Saviour  are  topics 
upon  which  the  man  of  little  learning  and  big 
faith  can  speak  with  resistless  power. 

Many  a  man  will  say,  however,  that  he 
would  rather  die  than  talk  publicly  upon  sub- 
jects  such  as  these.  ^'I  should  feel  like  a  fool 
and  my  friends  would  agree  that  I  was  one." 
Let  me  say  in  passing,  that  the  man  who  is  a 
reluctant  witness  is  often  the  man  whose  testi- 
mony carries  most  weight.  If  it  evidently  costs 
you  a  struggle  to  speak  of  your  religious  con- 
victions every  word  will  be  heard  with  respect. 
The  very  people  whose  ridicule  you  anticipate 
are  likely  to  be  profoundly  affected  by  the  proof 
of  your  sincerity.  I  must  admit,  however,  that 
you  may  be  one  of  those  who  simply  can  not,  or 
will  not,  bring  themselves  to  talk  about  religious 
feelings  and  experiences.  If  this  is  your  cate- 
gory, at  least  you  can  force  yourself  to  talk 
about  Christian  character  and  about  conduct 
as  a  necessary  test  of  character.  Most  men  will 
speak  glibly  about  civic  righteousness  and  na- 
tional integrity.  Surely  they  should  be  able 
also  to  advocate  such  a  manner  of  life  for  each 
man  as  is  conformable  to  Christian  ideals. 

A  layman  will  find  his  task  easier  if  he 
avoids  abstractions  and  delivers  himself  of  some 
concrete  message.  Let  him  think  of  some  way 
in  which  his  own  associates  are  in  the  habit  of 
doing  violence  to  the  Christian  ideal.     Let  him 


THE  LAYMAN'S  CONTRIBUTION  95 

meditate  upon  the  evil  consequences  of  this 
thing  as  manifested  in  home  life  and  in  social 
relations.  Then  let  him  ponder  upon  his  hopes 
for  his  own  children  or  for  the  young  people 
of  his  community  and  reflect  upon  the  way  in 
which  these  hopes  are  in  danger  of  being  frus- 
trated. While  he  is  thus  musing  the  fire  is 
likely  to  kindle  and  at  the  last  he  will  speak 
with  his  tongue. 

Perhaps  the  layman  in  some  given  instance 
is  a  man  of  position  and  privilege.  Perhaps 
he  has  observed  the  habit  of  others  like  him  when 
brought  into  familiar  contact  with  men  of  less 
education  and  of  small  privilege.  If  so  he  must 
have  noticed  a  thing  that  is  unfortunately  char- 
acteristic of  American  democracy.  I  mean  the 
way  in  which  the  man  of  privilege  habitually 
levels  himself  down  to  the  other  man  in  speech 
and  conduct  instead  of  exercising  over  the  other 
that  quiet  influence  which  the  right  way  of 
doing  things  always  exerts.  A  desire  t®  avoid 
the  appearance  of  snobbishness  leads  him  to 
become  deliberately  unreal.  It  is  a  futile  effort. 
The  other  man  quickly  perceives  what  is  hap- 
pening and  loses  all  respect  for  the  man  who 
might  have  helped  him. 

Any  layman  who  keeps  half  an  eye  open 
will  readily  find  dozens  of  illustrations  of  this 
false  democracy.  Suppose,  for  example,  a  man 
of  privilege  finds  himself  in  contact  with  guides 


96       A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

or  lumbermen  or,  as  in  a  training  camp,  with 
men  of  the  regular  army.  In  the  vast  majority 
of  cases  you  will  find  this  man  going  out  of 
his  way  in  an  effort  to  outdo  his  new  associates 
in  blasphemy  and  foul  talk — and  this  even  when 
under  ordinary  conditions  such  talk  is  by  no 
means  agreeable  to  him.  There  is  something 
pathetic  about  this  vain  attempt  to  curry  favor 
with  the  crowd.  It  indicates  a  hopelessly  false 
philosophy  of  life  and  a  total  failure  to  per- 
ceive that  affected  scurrilousness  is  as  futile  as 
any  other  form  of  affectation.  A  layman  might 
preach  a  very  effective  sermon  on  a  man's  duty 
to  be  himself  and  his  obligation  to  appear  to 
be  as  religious  as  in  fact  he  is. 

I  have  spoken  of  blasphemy.  We  all  know, 
of  course,  that  profanity  with  many  men  is 
merely  a  bad  habit  and  has  no  serious  moral 
quality  whatever.  The  blasphemous  use  of  our 
Lord's  ISTame  is,  however,  a  different  matter. 
It  may  be  true  that  the  blasphemer  has  no  de- 
liberate intention  to  blaspheme.  But  it  is  also 
true  that  he  can  have  no  real  reverence  left  in 
him;  else  such  talk  would  be  impossible.  He 
would  not,  for  example,  publicly  use  his  mother's 
or  his  sister's  or  his  wife's  name  in  the  way  that 
he  dares  to  use  his  Saviour's.  It  is  a  curious 
fact  that  when  men  get  together  in  groups,  away 
from  feminine  influence  and  the  restraint  of 
civilization,   they   immediately   lapse   into   the 


THE  LAYJVIAN'S  CONTRIBUTION  97 

most  barbarous  and  unrestrained  talk.  In  so 
doing  thej  make  an  unconscious  confession  that 
nothing  really  sacred  has  a  place  in  their 
thoughts  and  that  there  is  not  even  a  small  area 
dedicated  to  Almighty  God.  It  would  be  a  fine 
thing  if  a  layman  were  to  raise  his  voice  in 
earnest  protest  against  the  careless,  irreverent, 
or  blasphemous  use  of  the  only  !N'ame  given 
under  heaven  whereby  we  may  be  saved. 

I  should  like  to  hear  a  mercilessly  frank 
discourse  by  a  layman  on  the  decline  of  honesty 
in  America.  I  shall  be  told,  no  doubt,  that  there 
has  been  of  late  years  a  great  uplifting  of  stand- 
ards of  corporate  conduct  and  that  high  finance 
is  no  longer  low.  Let  it  be  granted  that  this 
is  true.  A  somewhat  extended  experience, 
nevertheless,  leads  me  to  the  unhappy  conclu- 
sion that  a  man  thoroughly  honest  in  all  his 
financial  relations  is  a  very  rare  bird.  I  am 
not  a  cynic  or  a  pessimist.  I  try  to  make  only 
conservative  statements;  yet  I  stand  by  the  one 
I  have  just  made.  Thorough-going  honesty  is 
rare.     I  wish  that  we  would  admit  it. 

Let  laymen  think,  for  example,  of  the  per- 
centage of  treasurers,  agents,  and  factors  who 
mingle  trust  money  with  their  own.  Think, 
too,  of  the  guardians  who  "lend"  their  wards' 
money  to  themselves  for  use  in  their  own  busi- 
ness. Then  there  are  the  trustees  who  are  mak- 
ing direct  and  indirect  profit  out  of  their  trusts, 


98       A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

and  the  executors  and  administrators  who  in 
ways  little  and  big  are  robbing  the  dead  as  well 
as  the  living.  I  have  heard  a  lawyer  of  great 
sanity  and  enormous  experience  give  it  as  his 
deliberate  opinion  that  a  majority  of  American 
fiduciaries,  if  suddenly  subjected  to  unexpected 
examination,  would  be  detected  in  more  or  less 
serious  embezzlement.  Fear  of  detection  keeps 
some  insurance  agents  from  rebating.  Honesty 
restrains  others.  How  many  applicants  for  in- 
surance, however,  will  refuse  to  accept  a  prof- 
fered reduction  in  the  broker's  commission? 
What  is  your  honest  opinion  of  some  of  the 
practices  common  among  agents  for  the  sale  of 
real  estate?  The  dealings  of  many  lawyers, 
especially  in  the  large  cities,  with  their  clients 
and  with  their  clients'  money  are  far  too  little 
understood.  How  often  do  you  happen  upon 
corporate  directors  who  are  accepting  "commis- 
sions" from  "clients"  doing  business  with  the 
corporation  ?  Is  it  uncommon  to  find  vendors  of 
securities  unloading  their  holdings  upon  inex- 
perienced purchasers  by  creating  the  impression 
that  their  advice  is  disinterested  ?  What  is 
your  experience  with  sextons  ?  What  percent- 
age of  them  do  you  suspect  of  being  grafters? 
How  many  day  laborers  will  work  diligently 
when  they  are  not  being  watched  ?  Do  you  find 
that  the  unsupervised  work  done  by  your 
builder,  your  carpenter,  and  your  plumber  is 


THE  LAYMAN'S  CONTRIBUTION  99 

honest  work,  fairly  worth  its  price?  Do  your 
farmer  and  your  gardener  try  to  take  advantage 
of  you  in  petty  ways?  Can  you  trust  the 
weights  and  the  books  of  your  grocer  and  your 
provision  dealer?  What  is  your  observation  of 
the  treatment  of  bidders  on  public  and  private 
work?  Is  the  sheriff  making  an  unfair  profit 
out  of  feeding  the  prisoners  in  your  county  jail  ? 
Is  there  any  corrupt  relation  between  your  po- 
lice force  and  protected  vice  ?  Are  you  satisfied 
that  your  community  is  honestly  governed  ?  Do 
people  often  recommend  for  employment  per- 
sons whom  they  would  not  trust?  Is  your  rec- 
tor's report  to  the  diocesan  convention  strictly 
accurate  both  as  to  the  number  of  actual  com- 
municants and  as  to  other  matters  ?  Is  he 
scrupulously  careful  in  the  handling  of  funds? 
Does  the  charitable  board  of  which  you  are  a 
member  ever  "borrow"  from  the  endowment 
fund  in  order  to  meet  current  expenses  ?  How 
often  do  you  come  in  contact  with  professional 
beggars  who  are  misrepresenting  facts  to  get 
money  ?  Are  you  accustomed  to  rely  implicitly 
on  the  representations  of  the  promoter  who 
wants  to  let  you  in  on  the  ground  floor  ?  Have 
you  ever  been  a  minority  stockholder  in  a  small 
company  of  which  the  majority  desired  to  ac- 
quire all  the  shares  ? 

I  submit  that  there  is  far  too  much  cock- 
crowing  about  the  rugged  honesty  of  the   de- 


100     A  NATION-WIDE   PREACHING  MISSION 

scendants  of  our  forefathers  and  far  too  little 
reporting  of  the  facts  as  thej  are.  Laymen  are 
the  people  who  do  the  cock-crowing  and  they 
are  the  only  people  who  can  effectively  do  the 
reporting.  May  we  not  hope  that  more  than  a 
few  laymen  will  seize  the  opportunity  offered 
by  the  mission  and  risk  their  popularity  by 
stating  the  facts  ?  It  should  be  pointed  out  with 
stern  insistence  that  we  have  long  enough 
clipped  and  snipped  the  Gospel  to  make  it 
square  with  selfishness  and  that  it  is  high  time 
to  reverse  the  process  by  fitting  our  daily  lives 
to  the  Gospel. 

Are  no  lay  voices  to  be  raised  in  opposition 
to  views  which  tend  to  disrupt  the  family  and 
destroy  the  home?  The  consideration  of  the 
divorce  problem  has  been  clouded  by  abstract 
discussions  of  the  nature  of  marriage  and  the 
function  of  the  Church  in  respect  to  it.  The 
important  point  to  emphasize  is  that  experience 
shows  that  divorce  is  a  failure.  Of  all  the 
remedies  and  reliefs  which  quacks  hold  out  to 
suffering  mortals,  divorce  is  the  most  disap- 
pointing and  dangerous.  Why  not  come  out 
boldly  and  warn  people  that  it  is  criminal  folly 
to  drift  into  serious  domestic  trouble  in  the  de- 
luding belief  that  lost  happiness  can  quickly 
be  restored  by  decree  of  court  ?  It  is  not  a  ques- 
tion of  the  propriety  of  the  remarriage  of  di- 
vorced persons.    It  is  not  a  question  of  the  way 


THE  LAYMAN'S  CONTRIBUTION  101 

in  which  the  horrors  of  the  divided  custody  of 
children  can  be  mitigated.  It  is  not  a  question 
of  remedy  but  of  prevention.  What  contribu- 
tion can  laymen  make  to  the  subject  of  moral 
hygiene  in  the  household?  Are  they  to  be 
dumb  in  the  presence  of  a  national  emergency  ? 
Would  it  not  be  a  fine  thing  if  laymen  were 
to  proclaim  to  their  fellows  that  most  domestic 
discord  is  traceable  to  bad  manners  upon  the 
part  of  the  male  ?  Lack  of  consideration  for 
the  feelings  of  the  wife ;  lack  of  insight  into  the 
conditions  which  will  make  a  woman  happy; 
unwillingness  to  make  little  personal  sacrifices; 
bad  temper  and  unreasonableness  when  the  bills 
seem  big — all  these  things  will  cumulate  and 
in  time  smother  the  flame  of  love.  If  a  lawyer 
could  tell  of  the  origins  of  family  discords  he 
would  make  an  astonishing  record  of  trifles  that 
ended  in  tragedies.  While  legislators  are  grap- 
pling with  the  divorce  problem  and  Churchmen 
are  puzzling  over  the  question  of  remarriage, 
they  and  most  other  people  seem  to  be  over- 
looking the  fact  that  the  remedy  for  domestic 
discord  is  not  divorce  but  happiness.  The  cul- 
ture of  happiness  is  the  important  matter  and 
the  Christian  home  is  the  place  in  which  it 
most  surely  flourishes.  I  wish  laymen  would 
step  out  of  the  pews,  ascend  the  pulpits,  and  pro- 
claim a  new  era  in  which  Christian  chivalry 
will  replace  churlishness  and  the  man  of  the 


102     A  NATION-WIDE   PREACHING  MISSION 

family  will  admit  that  if  the  home  is  unhappy 
it  is  primarily  his  fault.  In  ninety-nine  cases 
out  of  a  hundred  the  man  who  can  induce  a 
woman  to  marry  him  can  also  make  and  keep 
her  happy  if  he  lives  not  for  himself  but  for  her. 
The  households  in  which  the  family  altar  was 
reared  and  the  installation  of  family  prayers 
implanted  soon  after  they  were  established  are 
almost  always  households  which  have  continued 
to  be  happy.  A  strong  and  vigorous  advocacy 
by  laymen  of  a  return  in  this  respect  to  the 
general  custom  of  an  earlier  day  is  a  thing 
greatly  to  be  desired. 

Perhaps,  in  order  to  arouse  the  layman  to 
an  appreciation  of  his  privileges  and  oppor- 
tunity, it  will  be  necessary  to  preach  him  into 
preaching.  It  may  be  that  those  who  are  or- 
ganizing the  mission  will  find  themselves  un- 
able to  discern  any  appreciable  number  of  lay- 
men who  will  conquer  reluctance,  fling  away 
self-consciousness,  and  declare  boldly  the  faith 
that  is  in  them.  If  this  proves  to  be  the  case, 
then  the  clergy  who  preach  the  Mission  must 
do  what  they  can  to  convey  the  message  of  which 
the  laity  themselves  might  well  have  been  the 
medium.  Even  so,  the  layman  need  not  be 
merely  passive.  Apart  from  the  personal  serv- 
ice that  he  can  render  in  preparing  the  way  for 
the  coming  of  the  missioners  and  in  bringing 
men    and   women   within    the    range    of    their 


THE  LAYMAN'S  CONTRIBUTION  103 

voices,  he  can  himself  cooperate  with  the 
preacher  by  pondering  in  advance  the  sugges- 
tions that  I  have  made  in  this  paper.  If  his 
eyes  are  open  to  the  dangers  that  beset  our  lives 
he  is  likely  to  listen  more  eagerly  for  those 
words  of  counsel  and  exhortation  which  will  be 
addressed  to  him  in  the  power  of  the  Spirit. 


THE  PREACHING  MISSION  AND 
RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

By  the  Kev.  William  E.  Gardner,  D.D. 

General  Secretary  of  the 
General  Board  of  Religious  Education 

SYNOPSIS 

This  article  aims  to  show  that  the  educational  conception 
of  the  Church's  life  is  primarily  a  soul-saving  force  ;  that  the 
conception  demands  a  careful  study  of  parochial  forces,  and 
a  programme  that  will  win  and  rightly  place  the  "wit- 
nessing" energy  of  each  Churchman. 

APEEACHING  mission,  whose  sole  pur- 
pose and  aim  is  the  salvation  of  men 
through  Him  whose  ^ame  is  above  every  name, 
presents  the  primary  motive  for  the  movement 
of  Religious  Education. 

Soul  Saving  The  Church  is  urging  us  to  have 
and  Education  a  passion  for  souls.  That  passion 
must  be  defined  and  educationally  controlled,  if 
it  is  to  be  effectively  expressed  and  permanently 
pursued.  For  this  reason  soul  saving  must 
ultimately  receive  from  the  hands  of  the  Church 
the  same  kind  of  scientific  attention  that  has 
been  given  by  society  to  health  restoring. 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  105 

Soul  saving  must,  for  the  Church,  become 
a  more  scientific  activity  than  the  restoring  of 
health.  It  is  more  important  in  the  long  run ; 
it  will  therefore  be  studied  more  carefully  and 
systematically.  Its  investigation  may  call  for 
laboratories  and  investigators  more  expensive 
than  dollars  can  buy,  and  more  truly  scientific 
than  the  most  scientific  laboratory  and  investi- 
gator known  to-day.  A  keen  teacher  of  psy- 
chology said  recently :  ''When  we  give  as  much 
time  to  the  study  of  the  religious  impulses  as 
has  been  given  to  rocks  and  reptiles,  we  will 
know  more  definitely  than  to-day  what  we  mean 
by  'social  betterment'  and  'salvation'." 

This  in  a  preaching  mission  must  be  made 
clear:  we  may  come  to  a  sinful  world  bearing 
the  gift  of  salvation  as  we  have  received  it,  or 
been  possessed  by  it,  but  the  world  will  not 
receive  it  unless  that  salvation  is  the  evident 
fulfilment  of  a  crying  need.  Figgis  says :  "N"o 
religion  can  endure  which  does  not  answer  to  the 
demands  of  the  religious  consciousness."  But 
"man  is  a  religious  animal,"  he  is  constructed 
to  live  by  divine  grace,  and  he  waits  for  a 
Church  so  to  comprehend  the  length  and  breadth 
and  height  of  that  religious  consciousness  as  to 
be  able  not  only  to  supply  his  religious  demands, 
but  to  mak:e  him  recognize  the  presence  of  these 
demands. 

A  comprehension  of  the  religious  conscious- 


106     A   NATION-WIDE   PREACHING  MISSION 

ness  is  the  crying  need  of  the  Church.  It  can 
be  the  only  basis  for  a  successful  mission.  Only 
a  keen  analysis  of  the  individuals  in  a  parish 
will  reveal  the  contributions  that  a  mission 
should  make  to  that  parish.  We  cannot  deal 
with  souls  until  we  have  dealt  with  many 
a  single  soul. 

We  cannot  deal  effectively  with  a  soul  until 
we  have  faced  our  own. 

Our  Lord  was  successful  in  His  Mission 
because  "He  knew  what  was  in  man." 

The  Challenge  ^^^^ch  analysis  and  comprehension 
of  the  "Peculiar  of  the  Spiritual  things  of  the  re- 
^^"^^  ligious     consciousness     has     been 

checked  by  a  recreancy  born  of  a  "peculiar 
parish." 

The  representative  of  a  wholesale  business 
was  traveling  in  a  train.  He  carried  a  large, 
heavy  card  catalogue  containing  a  card  for  every 
retailer  in  his  line,  located  in  his  district.  Each 
card  showed  the  retailer's  financial  ability,  the 
kind  of  trade  he  aimed  to  meet,  the  competing 
firms  from  whom  he  had  bought,  the  orders 
placed  with  his  own  firm  during  the  last  few 
years,  and  other  information.  Commenting  on 
the  difficulty  of  making  and  keeping  up  such 
a  record,  he  made  this  significant  remark :  ''My 
business  is  a  peculiar  business;  therefore  I  must 
know  the  facts." 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  107 

Contrast  this  salesman  with  a  ^^peculiar 
business"  with  some  men  of  God  of  your  ac- 
quaintance who  claim  to  have  peculiar  parishes. 
With  the  business  man  peculiarity  was  the  in- 
centive to  study,  labor,  thought;  with  the  "man 
of  God"  is  not  peculiarity  the  excuse  for  the 
neglect  to  study  and  comprehend  and  eifectively 
meet  the  problems  of  the  salvation  of  men  ? 

The  salesman  has  a  passion  for  customers. 
He  must  know,  cultivate,  and  win  them.  If  he 
does  not  show  "orders"  he  will  not  keep  his 
position.  The  "man  of  God"  to-day  is  not  su- 
perWsed;  his  position  is  hedged  about  with  a 
traditional  respect;  public  opinion  works  very 
slowly  if  it  is  adverse  to  him.  He  may  have  a 
good  face  and  voice,  be  a  good  mixer,  and  hold 
his  position  as  leader  of  a  parish,  though  he 
may  have  little  passion  for  souls. 

Again,  the  "passion  for  customers"  is  now  a 
science;  schools  for  salesmen  and  a  voluminous 
weekly  and  monthly  journalism  have  made  "the 
successful  approach  to  the  customer"  a  path- 
way very  clearly  charted.  Back  of  all  is  a  busi- 
ness system  with  the  boards,  investigators,  trade 
organizations,  and  advertising  propaganda,  all 
of  which  have  created  and  are  increasingly  creat- 
ing successful  methods  by  which  the  demands 
of  people  shall  not  only  be  supplied,  but  their 
very  desires  educated  by  suggestion. 

The  passion  for  souls  has  not  yet  become  a 


108     A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

science,  and  in  the  minds  of  many  men  never 
should  be.  Your  acquaintance  with  his  peculiar 
parish  probably  openly  proclaims  that  the 
spirit  of  investigation  and  organization  which 
is  forcing  itself  into  the  Church  "interferes^' 
with  his  parish  plans.  He  does  not  believe 
that  a  card  catalogue  of  his  parish  is  a  neces- 
sity. To  study  his  families  and  tabulate  their 
good  and  bad  points,  to  account  for  every  ado- 
lescent child,  and  follow  up  every  family  "drift- 
ing out  of  the  parish,"  are  tasks  that  seem  to 
him  unrelated  to  the  "spiritual  work  of  the  min- 
istry,''  and  demand  time  that  should  be  placed 
in  study,  meditation,  and  worship. 

If  the  IN^ation-wide  Preaching  Mission  can 
bring  clergy  and  laity  to  see  the  challenge  that 
is  in  the  "peculiar  parish,"  if  it  can  open  an 
era  of  the  study  of  the  religious  consciousness, 
of  the  study  of  "what  is  in  man,"  then  the  salva- 
tion of  men  through  Him  whose  Name  is  above 
every  name  will  be  set  forward  by  a  religious 
revival  that  will  have  permanent  effects  because 
it  will  be  truly  educational. 

Soul  Saving  and  ^^  ^^  think  of  the  Church  as 
ihe  Educational  Comprehending  the  religious  con- 
Programme  sciousness  and  by  that  comprehen- 
sion meeting  effectively  man's  religious  de- 
mands, we  are  forced  to  think  of  salvation  in 
terms  of  a  programme. 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  109 

There  are  many  who  complain,  when  they 
see  Sunday  school  pupils  and  college  students 
straying  from  the  Church,  that  the  Church  has 
no  educational  programme,  the  implication 
being  that  such  a  programme  would  bring  salva- 
tion in  some  degree  to  our  youth. 

What  we  all  mean  when  we  speak  of  a  pro- 
gramme of  religious  education,  in  the  Church, 
is  a  programme  of  Church  life.  Religion  and 
education  are  both  coming  to  have  new  mean- 
ings. A  programme  of  Religious  Education 
can  no  longer  be  limited  to  the  formal  teaching 
of  a  faith  once  delivered.  The  characters  of 
boys  and  girls  and  men  and  women  are  not  being 
made  to-day  by  the  presence  of  convictions. 
These  play  a  part,  but  the  moving  forces  are 
imitation,  suggestion,  and  desire.  The  con- 
tribution of  the  Church  to  the  salvation  of  men 
to-day  will  depend  very  largely  on  what  she 
holds  before  men  as  sufficiently  desirable  to  win 
imitation  and  stimulate  suggestion.  This  means 
a  Church  life  that  compels  the  admiration  of 
the  community. 

The  educational  programme  in  any  parish  is 
not  determined  first  of  all  by  a  set  of  subjects 
for  a  Sunday  school  curriculum  handed  doAvn 
by  a  Board  of  Education,  it  is  determined  by 
the  crying  needs  of  the  community. 

The  study  of  the  parish  as  a  leaven  in  the 
community  is  in  its   infancy.      Parochial  life 


110     A  NATION-WIDE   PREACHING  MISSION 

and  power  present  an  undiscovered  field;  they 
call  for  the  genius  of  an  explorer  and  the  sacri- 
fice of  a  pioneer. 

The  parish  will  enter  the  life  of  the  com- 
munitj  in  somewhat  the  same  way  as  the  public 
school  has  met  the  needs  of  the  community. 
There  was  a  time  when  the  public  school  aimed 
to  teach  the  three  R's  and  the  classics.  To-day 
it  is  responding  to  the  demands  of  the  com- 
munity and  creating  special  courses  for  special 
groups,  from  cooking  and  dressmaking  to  col- 
lege preparation.  The  three  R's  are  funda- 
mental and  always  will  be;  the  special  courses 
are  built  upon  them.  In  the  same  way  in  the 
life  of  the  Church  there  are  certain  funda- 
mental religious  truths  and  training  that  must 
be  given  to  all.  But  there  are  also  specialized 
conceptions  and  activities  that  must  be  given 
to  certain  groups.  The  adolescent  needs  special 
study  and  treatment ;  so  also  the  college  student. 
The  parent  in  the  home,  the  various  leaders  of 
parochial  groups,  the  teachers,  and  the  minister, 
all  need  specialized  study  and  training  in  re- 
ligious thinking  and  action  in  order  that  the 
total  life  of  the  Church  may  be  lived  in  the 
community.  The  parish  exists  to  form  and 
train  and  direct  these  various  groups  that  the 
saving  power  of  the  Church  may  find  its  way 
into  the  community.  The  teachers  of  adoles- 
cents should     form  a  studying,  teaching,  and 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  111 

self-perpetuating  group  of  men  and  women; 
that  delicate,  transitory,  but  very  important  pe- 
riod in  the  religious  development  of  every  soul 
should  not  be  treated  with  the  hit  or  miss 
methods  that  to-day  are  present  in  too  many 
parishes.  *  The  ''home  nurture"  group  should 
be  a  parish  fixture.  Eectors  might  come  and 
go,  but  there  would  always  be  a  group  of  par- 
ents—call it  a  "Home  Department  of  the 
Church"  if  you  will — who  study  and  promote 
these  methods  of  family  worship  and  home  nur- 
ture that  make  the  Church  an  influence  seven 
days  each  week. 

The  parish  exists  to  bring  each  soul  into  the 
presence  of  the  religious  conception  and  action 
which  his  life  demands.  The  Church  must  raise 
up  specialists  both  among  clergy  and  laity,  some 
paid,  many  volunteers  (this  is  essential  to  the 
life  of  the  Church),  who  because  they  are  relig- 
ious educators  are  bringing  salvation  unto  men. 

Can  the  N"ation-wide  Preaching  Mission 
cause  some  parishes  to  formulate  a  programme 
of  life  that  aims  to  place  the  needs  of  the  com- 
munity first  and  to  develop  workers  and  leaders 
to  meet  those  needs?  To-day  business  is  the 
most  potent  force  in  the  life  of  the  community. 
Must  it  always  be?     Can  the  Church  demon- 

*  Send  to  General  Board  of  Religious  Education, 
281  Fourth  Avenue,  New  York  City,  for  literature  on 
League  of  Church  Parents. 


112     A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

•strate  spiritual  values  that  will  compel  and  win 
the  recognition  she  has  claimed  through  the 
ages  ?  Can  she  make  visible  that  she  is  a  nat- 
ural and  necessary  part  of  the  social  life  ? 

These  questions  deeply  concern  the  soul 
saving  and  the  educational  propaganda  of  the 
Church. 

Movements  in  The  preaching  mission  can  not 
Religious  only  promote   an  intensive  study 

Education  ^f  ^jjg  religious   consciousness   as 

found  in  the  parish  and  a  programme  of  paro- 
chial life  that  will  meet  the  demands  of  that 
consciousness,  but  it  can  also  make  known  some 
of  the  practical  movements  for  meeting  needs 
that  are  present  in  the  various  educational 
agencies  of  the  Church's  life. 

In  the  Home  There  are  signs  that  parents  are 
taking  parenthood  more  seriously.  The  home 
is  becoming  the  educational  institution  of  first 
importance.  *  The  fact  that  publishers  find  it 
profitable  to  publish  books  on  Child  Welfare, 
Home  IsTurture,  Problems  in  Child  Training, 
reveals  an  interest  that  will  increase.  There 
are  many  distinct  movements  for  family  wor- 

*  See  magazine,  "Daily  Bible,"  published  30  East 
Forty-second  Street,  New  York  City.  Read  Coe's  "Edu- 
cation in  Religion  and  Morals,"  Revell,  p.  277;  Cope's 
"Religious  Education  in  the  Family,"  University  of 
Chicago  Press. 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  113 

ship.  Throughout  the  Church  rectors  are  com- 
piling prayer  cards  for  the  use  of  their  families. 
Here  and  there  the  service  of  Family  Prayer 
is  being  read  where  it  was  not  heard  before; 
if  it  is  not  read  every  day,  then  it  is  read  with 
more  or  less  regularity.  Conversation  shows  a 
more  ready  conscience  to  acknowledge  the  place 
of  family  worship. 

Certain  unfortunate  circumstances  must 
still  be  recognized.  Public  education  claims 
the  very  best  of  the  child's  time  and  without 
intention  encourages  the  shifting  of  responsi- 
bility and  respect,  so  fundamental  to  religious 
training,  from  the  family  to  the  school.  But 
the  parent  associations  and  the  closer  relation 
between  teacher  and  parent  show  the  desire  of 
educational  leadership  to  force  family  responsi- 
bility. Again,  industrial  conditions  and  busi- 
ness methods  create  a  gap  between  the  parent 
and  the  child.  Family  life  requires  time  if  its 
highest  possibilities  are  to  be  discovered  and 
promoted.  A  weary  mind  and  body  cannot 
yield  the  child  that  sympathy  and  comprehen- 
sion that  he  must  have.  City  life  with  its  great 
variety  of  distractions  and  the  tendency  to 
standards  of  luxury,  encouraged  by  the  sight  of 
those  who  live  lives  of  spenders  rather  than  pro- 
ducers, all  make  the  task  of  the  Church  more 
difficult.  These  obstacles  present  a  challenge 
that  should  compel  the  study  and  the  definite 


114     A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

placing  of  responsibility  in  the  spirit  of  the 
ancient  prophets. 

The  main  question  that  concerns  the  Church 
in  her  relation  to  the  home  was  well  put  by  a 
rector  in  an  easy-going  suburban  community. 
"You  all  have  good  homes/'  he  told  his  con- 
gregation one  morning,  ''hut  have  you  Christian 
homes  f' 

In  the  Public  The  new  movement  for  vocational 
Schools  training  in  the  public  schools  was 

bound  to  make  possible  a  new  discussion  of  the 
importance  of  religion  in  the  total  education 
of  a  child.  This  must  be  taken  into  considera- 
tion in  any  movement  for  soul  saving. 

The  movement  in  the  schools  of  Gary,  Ind., 
where  the  pupils  were  released  to  the  churches 
certain  hours  and  religious  instruction  was 
given  "on  school  time/'  was  the  direct  result  of 
the  vocational  emphasis. 

In  Colorado  and  ]N"orth  Dakota  the  recogni- 
tion of  the  Bible  as  an  important  element  in 
education  led  to  the  giving  of  credits  to  certain 
high  school  pupils,  who  by  study  in  Sunday 
school  gave  evidence  of  having  attained  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  knowledge  about  Hebrew  his- 
tory. 

These  experiments  successfully  tried  have 
stimulated  many  centers.  "New  York  City  has 
begun  to  remodel  its  educational  system  to  ad- 
mit extensive  vocational  training.     With  these 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  115 

changes  comes  the  opportunity  for  religious 
leaders.  Already  a  large  inter-church  committee 
is  studying  the  possibilities,  and  various  com- 
munions are  preparing  to  move  when  the  oppor- 
tunity is  presented.  This  whole  movement  is  a 
vital  part  of  any  soul  saving  movement  in  the 
Church.  In  every  community  the  time  has 
come  for  study  and  investigation  in  the  subject, 
if  not  for  immediate  action. 

In  the  Sunday  The  most  important  move  in  the 
School  Sunday  school  world  is  the  frank 

recognition  that  its  opportunities  are  limited 
and  that  many  influences  combine  to  hinder  the 
fulfilment  of  the  highest  ideals  of  its  leaders. 
Parents  have  lost  respect  for  the  Sunday  school. 
Many  clergy  are  not  only  lacking  in  ability  and 
training  to  be  Sunday  school  leaders,  but  they 
question  the  value  of  the  institution. 

In  spite  of  these  obstacles,  the  Sunday 
school  is  a  very  live  institution  commanding  the 
regular  attendance  of  millions  of  pupils  and  the 
voluntary  services  of  thousands  of  teachers. 
The  teacher  training  movement  which  has 
brought  into  existence  correspondence  schools, 
summer  training  schools,  city  and  rural  insti- 
tutes, is  an  indication  that  there  are  many  who 
seriously  consider  their  responsibility  towards 
the  religious  training  of  the  youth  of  the 
Church. 


116     A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

With  the  development  of  the  two  move- 
ments, Religious  Life  in  the  Home,  and  Re- 
ligious Instruction  in  School  Time,  there  is 
bound  to  be  a  change  in  Sunday  school  methods. 
The  change  may  take  the  form  of  training  in 
worship,  and  Church  loyalty  on  Sundays  at 
church,  leaving  instruction  in  the  Bible  and 
Christian  ethics  to  weekday  opportunities. 
That  the  assembling  of  children  together  on 
Sunday  will  cease  is  inconceivable.  Even 
should  they  attend  worship  with  their  parents 
and  receive  religious  instruction  weekdays, 
there  would  also  be  a  demand  for  the  religious 
expression  of  the  child  life  of  the  Church  in  a 
special  congregational  form  adapted  to  chilr 
dren.  Call  it  "catechising"  or  "children's 
Eucharist"  or  "children's  service,"  they  all 
stand  for  an  abiding  necessity  in  religious  nur- 
ture and  must  have  due  consideration  in  any 
soul-saving  movement  of  the  Church. 

The  movement  of  the  Church  to  adequately 
administer  to  the  child  is  the  best  soul-saving 
movement  in  the  Church.  Its  influence  upon 
the  hardened  sinner,  the  careless  and  indiffer- 
ent, has  been  conspicuous  in  all  ages.  "A  little 
child  shall  lead  them"  is  one  of  the  greatest 
assets  of  the  Church.  It  has  not  been  given  due 
study  by  the  Church  leaders.  Like  many  of  the 
simple  things  of  the  religious  life,  it  has  been 
passed  over  and  time  and  energy  have  been  given 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  117 

to  dogmas  and  discussions  that  might  better  have 
been  spent  in  being  a  "witness'^  to  one  child. 
If  the  clergy  will  know  and  administer  to  the 
soul  life  of  the  children,  they  will  save  the  souls 
of  the  congregation. 

In  tjje  The    rapid    growth    of    so-called 

Secondary  "Church  Schools"  is  another  move- 

Schools  ment  that  must  be  considered  in 

any  soul-saving  campaign.  There  are  over  two 
hundred  and  fifty  "Church  Schools"  under  pri- 
vate and  diocesan  control.  Church  parents  tes- 
tify that  they  prefer  to  send  their  boys  and  girls 
to  Church  schools  because  they  want  them  to 
come  under  the  distinctly  religious  standards 
found  there. 

The  shepherding  of  these  hundreds  of  boys 
and  girls  as  they  graduate  each  year  from  these 
"Church  Schools"  in  many  cases  is  most  inade- 
quate. Those  who  go  on  to  college  are  fre- 
quently lost  in  the  maelstrom  of  athletics,  clubs, 
fraternities,  and  week-end  parties.  Those  who 
return  to  parishes  are  not  always  searched  out 
and  treated  in  the  spirit  of  "you  have  been 
three  years  in  a  Church  school,  you  are  just  the 
one  I  need  to  help  me  in  .... " 

,     ,    «  ..         Approximately      17,000      Church 

In  the  College       ,   ^^         j      •  /  n      • 

boys  and  girls  are  annually  m  at- 
tendance in  our  colleges  and  universities.    These 


118     A  NATION-WIDE   PREACHING   MISSION 

all  come  from  parishes.  These  should  all  re- 
turn to  parishes. 

Taken  as  a  body  they  represent  a  power  in 
the  developing  life  of  the  Church,  but  they  can- 
not be  considered  as  a  body.  Two  or  three  come 
from  this  parish — twenty-five  from  another.  In 
the  college  town  they  do  not  figure  in  the  Church 
life  because  the  Church  has  not  learned  how  to 
deal  with  the  student. 

There  is  one  practical  soul-saving  influence 
that  can  be  exerted  more  effectively  to  hold  the 
student  loyal  to  the  Church,  and  that  is  the  ac- 
tive interest  of  his  home  parish.  Those  men  and 
women  of  every  parish  who  belong  to  the  college 
alumni  have  a  responsibility  in  maintaining  the 
loyalty  of  students  during  their  college  days. 
With  the  aid  of  the  rector  they  can  form  the 
acquaintance  of  the  students  of  the  congrega- 
tion. They  can  visit  the  college,  entertain  the 
student  when  at  home,  accompany  him  to  a  cor- 
porate Communion,  and  by  correspondence  keep 
him  in  touch  with  local  Church  affairs.  The 
college  student  needs  a  ^'home  parish  sponsor" 
more  than  a  college  Church  club  or  guild  hall. 

During  one  trip  I  questioned  twenty-five 
rectors  about  their  relations  to  the  students  of 
their  parish  who  were  away  from  home.  Only 
two  kept  a  list  of  their  names,  the  others  had 
only  general  ideas  as  to  the  whereabouts  of  their 
students  and  frankly  confessed  that  they  had 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  119 

never  given  the  student  members  of  their  con- 
gregation much  thought. 

The  ^^teaching  the  Bible  and  religion"  in 
colleges  is  another  aspect  of  this  subject  which 
is  receiving  much  attention.  Many  of  the  lead- 
ing college  authorities  are  giving  a  cordial  recep- 
tion to  the  movement  for  religious  instruction  as 
part  of  the  curriculum.  The  June  (1915)  issue 
of  Religious  Education  (published  332  South 
Michigan  avenue,  Chicago)  presents  valuable 
articles  on  this  subject  from  various  points  of 
view.  Brown  University  offers  work  in  a  de- 
partment of  religious  education,  and  all  large 
universities  have  courses  in  Biblical  Literature. 

Cannot  the  local  parish  influence  the  student 
to  take  one  course  in  college  that  has  for  its  end 
the  improvement  of  his  religious  point  of  view  ? 
Cannot  father  and  mother  and  student  adviser 
be  led  to  see  that  this  effort  can  be  a  form  of 
soul  saving? 

In  Theological  ^^^J  movement  in  the  Church  for 
Education  soul  saving  that  does  not  encour- 

age prayers  and  efforts  for  the  increase  of  the 
ministry  is  not  fulfilling  its  function. 

The  first  requisite  in  the  consideration  of 
theological  education  is  an  answer  to  the  ques- 
tion: What  am  I  doing  to  supply  the  Church 
with  ministers  to  educate  ?  There  is  much 
energy  spent  in  discussing  and  condemning  the 


120     A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

theological  seminaries  that  might  more  profitably 
be  spent  in  recruiting  the  ministry. 

The  ministry  should  be  increased  by  the 
prayers  and  pleadings  of  the  laity  as  much  as 
by  those  of  the  clergy.  Vestries  have  not  only 
the  responsibility  of  maintaining  the  material 
fabric  of  the  Church,  they  are  by  canon  com- 
missioned to  take  an  active  part  in  maintaining 
the  ministry.  "Choose  ye  out  fit  men,"  was  the 
command  to  the  laity,  and  the  process  was  one 
of  selection  and  not  waiting  for  men  to  come 
who  thought  they  heard  a  call. 

Can  the  "preaching  mission"  make  every 
vestryman  face  the  question :  What  effort  did  I 
ever  mahe  to  increase  the  ministry  ? 

The  fact  that  vestrymen  do  not  seek  with 
enthusiasm  to  increase  the  ministry  by  persuad- 
ing the  best  of  the  young  life  of  the  parish  to 
consider  that  field  of  service,  is  a  revelation  of 
Church  valuations. 

There  are  parishes  which  have  never  given 
a  man  to  the  ministry  and  they  are  contented  to 
live  on  the  gift  of  life  from  the  general.  Church 
when  they  would  indignantly  refuse  the  gift  of 
money  that  would  place  them  in  the  category 
of  a  mission. 

If  the  desire  to  send  men  into  the  ministry 
can  be  dominant  in  the  Church,  the  question  of 
the  content  of  theological  education  will  be  an- 
swered in  a  practical  way  and  with  a  renewed 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  121 

life.  The  needs  of  tlie  Churcli  should  deter- 
mine the  curriculum  of  the  theological  semi- 
naries. If  the  Church  registers  a  need  for 
social  service  workers,  or  for  educational  ex- 
perts, or  for  preachers,  pastors,  or  priests,  the 
theological  schools  will  supply  them. 

The  present  difficulty  in  theological  educa- 
tion is  not  in  the  theological  school.  It  is  in  the 
indefinite  aims  and  ambitions  of  the  Church. 

During  the  coming  years  there  will  be  an 
arraying  of  the  things  that  make  for  Christ,  and 
those  that  do  not.  Unless  the  official  lay  read- 
ers can  define  and  commend  the  real  principles 
of  Christianity  and  communicate  the  evident 
life  of  Christ,  that  is,  unless  they  can  teach  and 
demonstrate,  the  Church  will  lose  the  allegiance 
of  this  generation. 

If  the  Nation-wide  Preaching  Mission  can 
convince  laymen  that  much  of  the  "trouble  with 
the  Church"  is  the  result  of  their  own  haziness 
and  slackness  in  religious  thinking  and  encour- 
age them  to  make  definite  demands  upon  them- 
selves and  others,  including  the  clergy,  the  ques- 
tion of  theological  education  will  enter  a  new 
stage  where  there  will  probably  be  much  debate 
but  valuable  results. 

All  signs  of  the  times,  all  the  needs  of  man, 
social,  intellectual,  and  religious,  point  to  an 
educational  conception  of  Church  life  that  is 
essential  to  a  Nation-wide  Preaching  Mission. 


122     A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

If  the  mission  can  aid  in  making  that  con- 
ception better  understood,  if  it  can  help  the  ad- 
ministrators of  the  Church's  life,  from  Bishops 
to  kindergarten  teachers,  to  manifest  in  their 
work  the  outward  and  visible  signs  of  that  con- 
ception, we  shall  have  a  soul-saving  movement 
that  will  reach  do^vn  the  ages. 

Prayer  for  Religious  Education. 

O  God,  who  hast  sent  Thy  beloved  Son  to  be 
unto  us  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life;  Grant 
that  we,  looking  unto  Him,  may  set  forward  the 
teaching  power  of  Thy  Church,  to  the  nurture  of 
Thy  children,  the  increase  of  Thy  Kingdom,  and 
the  glory  of  the  same  Thy  Son  Jesus  Christ,  our 
Lord.    Amen. 

A  Prayer  for  Educational  Institutions. 

Almighty  and  eternal  God,  the  Source  of  light 
and  life,  whose  fear  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom; 
Guide  and  illumine  by  Thy  Holy  Spirit  the  teachers 
and  the  taught  in  every  school  of  good  learning,  that 
all  truth  may  be  felt  to  reveal  Thy  will,  to  invite 
Thy  service,  and  to  find  itself  incarnate  in  Thy  only 
Son,  our  Master  Jesus  Christ.    Amen. 

For  Parents. 

O  heavenly  Father,  assist  with  Thy  blessing  the 
parents  of  this  land,  that  they  may  order  their 
households  after  Thy  Law,  and  live  to  see  their 
children  brought  up  to  Thy  praise  and  honor. 
Grant,  O  God,  that  they  and  the  children  which 
Thou  hast  given  them  may  so  live  together  in  this 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  123 

life,  that  not  one  of  them  may  be  wanting  in  that 
day  when  Thou  makest  up  Thy  jewels;  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.     Amen. 

A  FEW  HELPFUL  BOOKS 

Education  in  Eeligion  and  Morals.     Coe  (Revell). 
Price  $1.35. 

The  Religious  Education  of  the  Child.  Rusk  (Long- 
mans, Green,  &  Co.).    Price  50  cents. 

Child  Study.  Dix  (Longmans,  Green,  &  Co.).  Price 
50  cents. 

Religious  Education  in  the  Family.  Cope  (Univer- 
sity of  Chicago  Press).     Price  $1.25. 

Magazine:  "Religious  Education,"  issue  of  June, 
1915,  Vol.  10,  No.  3.    Price  65  cents. 

Note:  This  number  contains  many  valuable 
articles  on  the  Rights  of  the  Child,  the  Bible  and 
the  High  School,  the  Gary  and  North  Dakota 
Plans  for  Religious  Instruction,  Bible  Study  in 
Cajiada,  the  Administration  of  Religious  Educa- 
tion in  the  Parish  (a  very  valuable  article  by 
Prof.  Coe),  the  Family  as  an  Agency  for  Relig- 
ious Education,  Parents'  Classes. 

Magazine:  "The  Constructive  Quarterly"  (Doran 
Co.,  N.  Y.  C),  issue  of  September,  1915.  Price 
75  cents. 

Note:  Read  illuminating  article  "Education 
and  the  Constructive  Aims,"  by  Edward  A.  Pace, 
Ph.D.,  of  Catholic  University. 

TOPICS  FOR  SERMONS  AND  ADDRESSES 

The  following  topics  have  been  issued  by  the 
Board  of  Religious  Education  of  the  Province  of 
Washington,   to  be  used   during   a   week   of  Inter- 


124     A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

cession  for  Keligious  Education  beginning  October 
17th: 

TopicI — Religious  Nurture  In  and  Through  the 

Church. 

The  Meaning   of   Church  Membership. 

"Soul  is  kindled  by  Soul.     To  teach  religion 

the   first  thing  needful,   and   also   the   last   and 

only  thing,  is  finding  the  man  who  has  religion. 

All  else  follows." — Carlyle. 

Topic  II — Religious  Nurture  in  the  Home. 

"There  are,  doubtless,  many  ways  in  which 
men  may  make  a  *new  heaven  and  a  new  earth' 
of  their  dwelling  place,  but  the  simplest  of  all 
ways  is  through  a  fond,  discerning,  and  individ- 
ual care  of  each  child." 

"Where  no  voice  speaks  for  high  things, 
where  no  tide  of  indignation  against  wrong 
sweeps  into  language,  where  the  children  never 
feel  that  the  parents  have  good  moral  convictions, 
where  no  vision  is,  the  people  perish." — Cope. 

Topic  III — The  Church  School  as  the  Trainer  of 
Leaders. 

Education  During  the  Critical  Period 
of  Habit-Forming  Age. 

"Nothing  in  these  days  will  serve  our  Church 
and  Community  in  more  permanent  and  essential 
ways  than  the  successful  working  of  a  school  in 
which  the  education  of  the  mind  shall  be  di- 
rected, developed,  and  sustained  in  the  fear  of 
God  and  the  faith  of  the  Church." — Bishop 
Bhinelander. 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  125 

Topic  IV — College  Life  and  Enlistment  for  Serv- 
ice. 
Education  During  the  Period  When 
Purpose  is  Fixed. 

"The  College  Course  should  develop  the  sci- 
ence and  art  of  right  living;  it  should  make, 
first  of  all,  for  character  and  conduct.  One  may 
say,  that  the  four  college  years  give  the  final 
color  to  the  world-view,  purpose,  character  and 
social  relationships  of  the  average  graduate." — 
Professor  Yotaw. 
Topic  V — The  Sacred  Ministry  as  a  Vocation. 

"Pray  ye  the  Lord  of  the  Harvest  that  He 
will  send  forth  laborers  into  His  Harvest." 

"There  is,  then,  a  definite  and  proper  end  for 
every  man's  existence ;  an  end  which  to  the  heart 
of  God  is  the  good  intended  for  him;  that  which 
he  is  privileged  to  become,  ought  to  become — 
every  human  soul  has  a  complete  and  perfect 
plan  cherished  for  it  in  the  heart  of  God." — 
Bushnell. 
Topic  VI — The  Public  School  and  the   Church. 

"The  first  essential  is  that  the  Church  should 
recognize  that  after  the  public  schools  have  done 
their  best  in  moral  education  and  even  by  official 
recognition  of  religion  the  pupils  need  the  deep 
sanctions  and  the  dynamic  of  a  religious  faith. 
To  supply  this  is  the  business  of  the  Church,  not 
the  State." 

A  FEW  SUGGESTIVE  BIBLE  PASSAGES 

Deuteronomy  6:1-15.  St.  Luke  17:20  and  21. 

Joshua  24:14-28.  St.  John  4. 

Jeremiah  31 :31-36.  St.  John  3 :1-13. 

Micah  6:6-9.  Komans  12. 

St.  Mark  7:14-23.  Romans  8. 


MISSION  MUSIC 


By  Stanley  R.  Avery 


Choirmaster  and  Organist^  8t.  Mark's  Church, 
Minneapolis 

THE  music  of  a  mission  must  be  given  a 
very  prominent  place,  and  be  very  care- 
fully prepared.  It  falls  naturally  under  two 
heads:  the  singers  and  the  music  sung. 

Adult    choir:     The    parish    choir 
ingers  should    form    the    nucleus    of    as 

large  a  mission  choir  as  the  chancel  will  con- 
veniently hold.  A  personal  circular  letter  from 
the  choirmaster  to  individual  singers  as  well 
as  to  members  of  choral  organizations  in  the 
community,  and  to  members  of  other  Episcopal 
choirs,  where  advisable,  will,  as  a  rule,  meet 
with  ready  response.  The  definite  dates,  the 
comparative  short  duration  of  the  mission,  and 
the  bigness  of  the  undertaking,  make  a  strong 
appeal  to  volunteers. 

Do  not  try  voices:  take  all  who  come,  until 
the  lists  are  full.     All  should  be  vested.     Plan 


MISSION  MUSIC  127 

the  music  in  detail  for  every  service  before  the 
mission  begins  and  have  few  but  highly  con- 
centrated rehearsals.  These  may  be  supple- 
mented as  needed  before  or  after  mission 
services. 

Children's  choir:  This  choir  should  be  han- 
dled nearly  like  the  adult  choir,  though  letters 
are  seldom  necessary  to  gather  boys  and  girls 
together.  Take  all  who  come,  up  to  chancel 
capacity.  A  word  of  admonition  to  the  boys 
to  sing  softly  will  be  sufficient  to  prevent  any 
harm  being  done  to  untrained  voices. 

Soloists:  If  your  choir  cannot  supply  a 
soloist  who  can  sing  with  deep  feeling,  engage 
such  an  one  from  elsewhere.  In  fact,  secure 
the  very  best  you  can  afford. 

^   .  Hymns:    Appended   is   a  list  of 

hymns  well  suited  to  mission  pur- 
poses (a)  from  the  Church  Hymnal;  (b)  from 
the  Mission  Hymnal.* 

Anthems:  Select  comparatively  easy  and 
always  popular  anthems.  (See  suggested  list.) 
Be  sure  that  they  are  within  the  ability  of  the 
mission  choir. 


*  The  Mission  Hymnal,  published  by  Biglow  &  Main 
and  The  Young  Churchman  Company;  with  music,  35 
cents  per  copy,  $25  per  hundred;  words  only,  15  cents 
per  copy,  $10  per  hundred.  Twelve  or  more  copies  at 
the  hundred  rate. 


128     A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

Solos:  These  also  should  be  simple  and 
popular.     (See  suggested  list.) 

Many  Gospel  Hymns  may  be  used  as  solos; 
and  however  simple,  they  must  be  rendered  to 
the  very  best  of  the  singer's  ability. 

SUGGESTED  HYMNS  FROM  CHURCH  HYMNAL 

Hymns   marked   ♦   are  especially   suitable. 

143*  Jesus  calls  us  :  o'er  the  tumult. 

150  We  sing  the  glorious  conquest. 

179  Hark  !  the  sound  of  holy  voices, 

196*  Our  fathers'  God  to  Thee, 

250*  Saints  of  God  !  the  dawn  is  brightening, 

284  O  Word  of  God  incarnate, 

312  Christ,  whose  glory  fills  the  skies, 

319*  Thou  didst  leave  Thy  throne  and  Thy  kingly  crown, 

322  Conquering  kings  their  titles  take, 

323  Hail  to  the  Lord's  Anointed, 
327*  Thou,  Whose  almighty  word, 
328*  Lord  of  all  power  and  might, 
331*  Watchman,  tell  us  of  the  night, 

332  God  of  mercy,  God  of  grace, 

333  Par  from  my  heavenly  home, 
335*  Jesu,  lover  of  my  soul, 
336*  Rock  of  ages,  cleft  for  me, 

342*  Art  thou  weary,  art  thou  languid, 

344*  Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee, 

345*  My  faith  looks  up  to  Thee, 

357*  O  Jesu,  Thou  art  standing, 

358     Jesus,  I  my  cross  have  taken, 

359*   In  the  cross  of  Christ  I  glory, 

374     Crown  Him  with  many  crowns, 

377     Come,  Holy  Spirit,  heavenly  Dove, 

392     Not  to  the  terrors  of  the  Lord. 

396*  Ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand, 

398*  Hark  !  Hark,  my  soul  I     Angelic  songs  are  swelling, 

399*  Light's  abode,  celestial  Salem, 

403*  O  Mother  dear,  Jerusalem, 

404*   I  heard  a  sound  of  voices, 

405     The  world  is  very  evil. 


MISSION  MUSIC  129 

406  Brief  life  is  here  our  portion, 

407  For  thee,  O  dear,  dear  country, 
408*  Jerusalem,  the  golden ! 

411  Shepherd,  with  Thy  tenderest  love, 

412*  The  King  of  love  my  Shepherd  is, 

414*  Guide  me,  O  Thou  great  Jehovah, 

418  O  God,  our  help  in  ages  past, 

422*  Lead  us,  O  Father,  in  the  paths  of  peace, 

423*  Lead,  kindly  Light, 

432*  Love  divine,  all  love  excelling, 

450*  All  hail  the  power  of  Jesus'  name, 

452  Children  of  the  heavenly  King, 

470  All  people  that  on  earth  do  dwell, 

472  O  come,  loud  anthems  let  us  sing, 

483  Christ  is  made  the  sure  foundation, 

488*  Triumphant  Sion,  lift  thy  head, 

490*  Glorious  things  of  thee  are  spoken, 

491*  The  Church's  one  foundation, 

507*  The  Son  of  God  goes  forth  to  war, 

509*  Soldiers  of  Christ,  arise, 

510  Go  forward,  Christian  soldier, 

511  O  happy  band  of  pilgrims, 
514*  We  march,  we  march  to  victory, 
515*  Brightly  gleams  our  banner, 
516*  Onward,  Christian  soldiers, 

521  Through  the  night  of  doubt  and  sorrow, 

522*  On  our  way  rejoicing, 

523*  Forward  !  be  our  watchword, 

579*  O  brothers,  lift  your  voices. 

580*  Christ  for  the  world  we  sing  ! 

582*  Stand  up,  stand  up,  for  Jesus, 

583*  Work,  for  the  night  is  coming, 

584  Go,  labor  on,  spend  and  be  spent, 

586*  Lord,  speak  to  me,  that  I  may  speak, 

590*  To-day  Thy  mercy  calls  us. 

591  When  at  Thy  footstool,  Lord,  I  bend, 

593  There  is  a  fountain  filled  with  blood, 

596  The  Spirit,  in  our  hearts, 

597  Jesus,  and  shall  it  ever  be, 
601*  I  need  Thee,  precious  Jesus, 
602*  I  need  Thee  every  hour, 

603  I  could  not  do  without  Thee, 

605  I  lay  my  sins  on  Jesus, 

606*  Just  as  I  am,  without  one  plea, 

607*  Love  of  Jesus,  all  divine. 


130  A   NATION-WIDE   PREACHING  MISSION 

608  Lo  !  the  voice  of  Jesus, 

611*  Jesus,  merciful  and  mild, 

615*  O  Jesus,  I  have  promised, 

616*  He  leadeth  me  !  oh,  blessed  thought ! 

617*  Glory  be  to  God  the  Father, 

618*  Revive  Thy  work,  O  Lord, 

619*  Call  them  in,  the  poor,  the  wretched, 

620  Onward  Christian  !  though  the  region, 

623  I'm  but  a  stranger  here, 

628  Though  faint,  yet  pursuing,  we  go  on  our  way, 

636*  How  firm  a  foundation, 

637*  Come  ye  disconsolate,  where'er  ye  languish, 

648*  To  Sion's  hill  I  lift  my  eyes, 

649  Lord,  forever  at  Thy  side, 

654*  More  love  to  Thee,  O  Christ, 

663  O  Thou,  from  Whom  all  goodness  flows, 

670  Father,  whate'er  of  earthly  bliss, 

672*  Blest  be  the  tie  that  binds, 

673  I  heard  the  voice  of  Jesus  say, 

674*  Peace,  perfect  peace. 

CHILDREN'S  HYMNS 

196*  Our  fathers'  God  !  to  Thee, 

327*  Thou,  Whose  almighty  word, 

335  Jesu,  lover  of  my  soul, 

336  Rock  of  ages,  cleft  for  me, 
344*  Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee, 
345*  My  faith  looks  up  to  Thee, 
357*  O  Jesu,  Thou  art  standing, 
359*  In  the  cross  of  Christ  I  glory, 
374  Crown  Him  with  many  crowns, 

398  Hark  !    Hark,  my  soul !    Angelic  songs  are  swelling. 

403*  O  Mother  dear,  Jerusalem, 

408  Jerusalem,  the  golden, 

414*  Guide  me,  O  Thou  great  Jehovah, 

422  Lead  us,  heavenly  Father,  lead  us, 

423*  Lead,  kindly  Light, 

432*  Love  divine,  all  love  excelling, 

450*  All  hail  the  power  of  Jesus'  Name, 

490*  Glorious  things  of  thee  are  spoken, 

507*  The  Son  of  God  goes  forth  to  war, 

509  Soldiers  of  Christ,  arise, 

514*  We  march,  we  march  to  victory, 

515*  Brightly  gleams  our  banner. 


MISSION  MUSIC  131 

516*  Onward,  Christian  soldiers, 

522*  On  our  way  rejoicing, 

523*  Forward  !  be  our  watchword, 

526  Jesu,  from  Thy  throne  on  high, 

531*  Jesus,  King  of  glory, 

533  Come,  praise  your  Lord  and  Saviour, 

534*  Jesus,  tender  Shepherd,  hear  me, 

545*  Golden  harps  are  sounding, 

547  Glory  to  the  Father  give, 

549  King  of  glory  !  Saviour  dear  ! 

551  God  of  mercy,  throned  on  high, 

552  Loving  Shepherd  of  Thy  sheep, 

553  There's  a  friend  for  little  children, 

555  Gracious  Saviour,  gentle  Shepherd, 

556  Heavenly  Father,  send  Thy  blessing, 

562*  I  think  when  I  read  that  sweet  story  of  old, 

573*  Saviour,  like  a  shepherd  lead  us, 

577*  In  the  vineyard  of  our  Father, 

579  O  brothers,  lift  your  voices. 

580*  Christ  for  the  world  we  sing ! 

582*  Stand  up,  stand  up,  for  Jesus, 

583*  Work,  for  the  night  is  coming, 

602*  I  need  Thee  every  hour, 

606*  Just  as  I  am,  without  one  plea, 

616*  He  leadeth  me !  oh,  blessed  thought ! 

636*  How  firm  a  foundation,  ye  saints  of  the  Lord, 

649  Lord,  forever  at  Thy  side, 

672*  Blest  be  the  tie  that  binds, 

674*  Peace,  perfect  peace. 

FROM  THE  MISSION  HYMNAL 

11  Blessed  assurance. 

182  God  be  with  you. 

34  I  love  to  tell  the  story   (solo). 

98  I  will  sing  you  a  song,  "Home  of  the  Soul"   (solo). 

129  Jesus  is  calling. 

125  Jesus,  keep  me   (solo). 

103  Jesus,  Saviour,  pilot  me   (solo). 

33  O  Love  that  wilt  not  (solo). 

85  Pass  me  not. 

44  Rescue  the  perishing. 

41  Safe  in  the  arms   (solo  and  chorus). 

155  Saviour,  more  than  life  to  me. 

53  Souls  of  men    (solo). 


132  A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

74  Sweet  hour  of  prayer. 

71  Tell  me  the  old,  old  story   (solo  and  chorus). 

79  The  Homeland. 

163  The  whole  wide  world  for  Jesus. 

109*  There  is  a  green  hill   (solo). 

55  There  were  ninety  and  nine  (solo). 

131  Throw  out  the  life-line   (solo  and  chorus). 

50  What  a  friend  we  have. 

143  Glory   Song   (solo  and  chorus). 

170  Yield  not  to  temptation. 


FROM  OTHER  COLLECTIONS  OF 
GOSPEL  HYMNS 

Almost  persuaded   (solo). 

Beyond  the  smiling  (solo  and  quartet). 

Hiding  in  Thee. 

It  is  well  with  my  soul. 

Saved  by  Grace  (solo  and  chorus). 

Softly  and  tenderly  (solo). 

Something  for  Jesus   (quartet). 

Who  is  on  the  Lord's  side? 

SUGGESTED  ANTHEMS 

As  pants  the  hart  (Spohr). 

Ave  Verum  (Gounod). 

God  so  loved  the  world   (Stainer). 

Glorious  is  Thy  Name   (Mozart). 

Hark,  hark  my  soul   (Shelley). 

Hosannah   (Oranier). 

I  waited  for  the  Lord  (Mendelssohn). 

I  am  Alpha   (Stainer). 

Incline  Thine  ear  (Himmel). 

In  heavenly  love  abiding  (Parker). 

Inflamatus  (Rossini). 

Jerusalem   (Gounod). 

King  of  Love  (Shelley). 

No  shadows  yonder  (Gaul). 

Prayer  of  Thanksgiving  (Kremser,  arr.) 

Rock  of  Ages  (Buck). 

Sanctus  (as  anthem)   (Gounod). 

Saviour,  when  night  (Shelley). 


*  The  familiar  tune  is  not  printed  in  this  hymnal. 


MISSION  MUSIC  133 

Seek  ye  the  Lord  (Ro'berts). 

Sweet  is  Thy  mercy  (Barnhy). 

The  radiant  morn   (Woodward). 

Trust  in  the  Lord  (Largo  arr.  for  Male  Voices   (Handel). 

Unfold,  ye  portals  (Oounod). 

Any  choruses  of  moderate  length  from  the  standard  ora- 
torios and  cantatas. 

SUGGESTED  SOLOS 

Abide  with  me  (Liddle). 

Gloria  (Buzzi-Peccia). 

Glory  to  Thee,  my  God,  this  night  (Oounod). 

Hosannah  (Oranier). 

The  King  of  Love  (Oounod). 

There  is  a  green  hill   (Oounod). 

The  Recessional   (DeKoven). 

Solos  from  the  standard  oratorios  and  cantatas. 

Carefully  selected  Gospel  Hymns. 


APPENDIX 

Prayers  for  the  Nation- Wide  Preaching 
Mission 

For  the  Mission. 

A  LMIGHTY  and  most  merciful  Father,  who  didst 
'^*"  send  Thy  Son  Jesus  Christ  to  seek  and  to  save 
that  which  was  lost,  and  to  be  to  Thy  children  the 
Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life;  We  beseech  Thee  in 
His  name  to  give  to  Thy  Church  a  new  conscious- 
ness of  His  saving  power,  a  more  real  apprehension 
of  the  awfulness  of  sin,  a  deeper  sense  of  humility,  a 
finer  zeal  for  service,  and  an  earnest  passion  for 
souls.  Quicken,  we  pray  Thee,  at  this  time  Thy 
whole  Church,  and  make  it  splendid  with  Thine  own 
presence. 

Let  Thy  Holy  Spirit  pervade  and  direct  the 
mission  about  to  be  undertaken  in  Thy  name  and 
presence.  Through  its  ministry,  knit  Thy  people 
together  in  the  bonds  of  a  holy  fellowship; 
strengthen  the  weak,  lift  up  the  fallen,  unstop  deaf 
ears,  renew  the  vision  of  those  who  see  Thee  not. 
Restore,  0  Lord,  those  who  have  lost  their  way,  and 
direct  their  feet  into  the  paths  of  peace. 

Visit,  we  pray  Thee,  this  nation,  and  save  it 
from  threatening  perils.  Let  not  Thy  people,  O 
God,  trust  in  uncertain  riches;  let  not  Thine  her- 


APPENDIX  135 

itage  be  put  to  confusion.  Save  us,  we  beseech  Thee, 
from  the  pride  of  power  or  the  enervating  lust  of 
undisciplined  luxury. 

Revive  Thy  Church;  make  bare  Thine  arm; 
clothe  Thy  ministers  with  spiritual  power  and  give 
them  Pentecostal  zeal.  Use  Thy  Church,  blessed 
Lord,  for  the  enrichment  of  Thy  Kingdom  and  the 
extension  of  Thy  divine  power;  and  hasten  the  day 
when  the  earth  shall  be  filled  with  the  knowledge 
of  the  glory  of  the  Lord  even  as  the  waters  cover 
the  sea ;  and  to  Him  who  loved  us  and  gave  Himself 
for  us  shall  be  all  the  praise  forever  and  ever.  Amen. 

r\  ALMIGHTY  and  Eternal  God,  Heavenly 
^^  Father,  who  so  loved  us  as  to  give  Thine  only- 
begotten  Son  for  us;  Increase  in  us,  we  pray  Thee, 
our  love  toward  Thee. 

Stir  up  our  wills,  we  beseech  Thee,  O  Lord,  at 
this  time  as  never  before;  and  fill  us  with  such  an 
hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness  that  our  own 
souls  shall  be  filled,  and  through  us  the  hearts  of 
those  who  know  Thee  not  be  turned  to  the  light  of 
Thy  love  and  made  to  rejoice  in  the  full  knowledge 
of  Thy  salvation. 

Raise  up,  we  pray  Thee,  Thy  power,  and  on  the 
threshold  of  this  present  Advent  season  come  among 
us,  and  with  great  might  succour  us,  that  in  the 
special  services  about  to  be  held  in  Thy  Name  we 
may  all  honor  Thee  with  our  presence;  and  Thy 
messengers  so  truly  preach  the  pure  gospel  of  Thy 
love,  and  Thy  people,  under  the  guidance  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  so  profitably  receive  the  same,  that  the 
kingdom  of  sin,  Satan,  and  death  may  be  broken 
down  among  us,  and  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  so 
established  in  our  midst,  that  peace  and  happiness, 
truth    and   justice,    religion    and    piety,    may    take 


136     A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

possession  of  us  and  prevail  among  us  in  all  genera- 
tions; through  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord,  who  with 
Thee  and  the  Holy  Ghost  liveth  and  reigneth  ever 
one  God,  world  without  end.    Amen. 

For  the  Blessing  of  the  WorJc. 

r\  LORD  Jesus  Christ,  the  Great  Shepherd  of  the 
^^  sheep,  who  seekest  those  that  are  gone  astray, 
bindest  up  those  that  are  broken,  and  healest  those 
that  are  sick ;  Bless,  we  beseech  Thee,  the  effort  to  be 
made  in  this  diocese  to  convert  souls  unto  Thee. 
Open  the  deaf  ears  of  the  wanderers,  that  they  may 
hear  the  words  which  belong  unto  their  salvation. 
Grant  that  those  whom  Thou  dost  raise  to  newness 
of  life  may  through  Thy  grace  persevere  unto  the 
end:  of  Thy  mercy  who  livest  with  the  Father  and 
the  Holy  Spirit,  one  God,  world  without  end.    Amen. 

For  the  Preachers  and  Other  Workers  in  the  Mission. 

A  LMIGHTY  and  everlasting  God,  who  dost 
■^^  govern  all  things  in  heaven  and  earth ;  We  com- 
mend to  Thy  fatherly  care  all  whom  Thou  shalt  call 
to  take  part  in  the  work  of  the  preaching  mission  in 
this  diocese.  Watch  over  them,  we  beseech  Thee, 
for  good;  defend  them  from  all  dangers  both  of 
body  and  soul.  Let  Thy  Holy  Spirit  in  all  things 
direct  and  rule  their  hearts ;  and  give  them  power  to 
consume  the  evil,  to  melt  the  stony-hearted,  to  purify 
the  unclean,  to  enlighten  the  ignorant,  and  to 
quicken  the  dead;  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 
Amen. 

For  the  Spirit  of  Unity. 

r\  LOED  Jesus  Christ,  who  saidst  unto  Thine 
^^  Apostles,  Peace  I  leave  with  you.  My  peace  I 
give  unto  you;  Regard  not  our  sins,  but  the  faith  of 


APPENDIX  137 

Thy  Church,  and  grant  us  that  peace  and  unity 
which  is  agreeable  to  Thy  will;  Who  livest  and 
reignest  God  for  ever  and  ever.    Amen. 

(Prayers  prepared  by  Bishop  Osborne) 

For  the  Lapsed. 
r\  ALMIGHTY  God,  who  didst  have  mercy  upon 
^^  the  race  of  men  after  the  forfeiture  of  our  origi- 
nal righteousness ;  Have  mercy,  according  to  the  ful- 
ness of  Thy  long-suffering,  upon  those  who,  having 
been  once  renewed  by  Thy  compassion,  are  yet  again 
fallen  by  their  own  frailty.  Let  Thy  Spirit  strive 
within  them,  and  the  remembrance  of  His  former 
inspirations  excite  in  tliem  such  hatred  of  their  sin, 
and  such  vengeance  against  those  earthly  lusts  by 
which  they  have  been  carried  captive,  that  they  may 
no  longer  hesitate  to  obey  Thy  divine  call,  but  may 
cast  themselves  upon  Thy  mercy;  and,  returning 
again  with  penitence  to  the  embrace  of  Thy  love, 
may  walk  in  the  way  of  Thy  commandments; 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.     Amen. 

For  Returning  Penitents. 

r\  GOD,  who  by  the  Blood  of  Thine  only  Son  didst 
^^  redeem  mankind  from  the  power  of  death; 
Quicken,  we  beseech  Thee,  the  souls  of  all  returning 
penitents  (especially  .  .  .  )  and  receive  upon  their 
return  those  whom  Thou  didst  recall  when  they  were 
wandering.  Hear  their  sighs;  heal  their  wounds; 
strengthen  their  weakness.  Grant  them  with  such 
contrition  to  confess  their  sins  that  in  the  day  of 
Thy  judgment  they  may  be  found  worthy  of  Thy 
glory,  never  more  to  be  lost,  as  they  have  been  re- 
stored by  Thy  love  to  the  grace  which  they  had  for- 
feited; through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.    Amen. 


138     A  NATION-WIDE  PREACHING  MISSION 

For  Those  who  are  Prejudiced  against  the  Truth. 

OGOD,  be  merciful  to  all  those  who  shut  their 
eyes  against  the  acceptance  of  Thy  Truth  in 
consequence  of  any  unworthy  prejudice,  and  grant 
them  so  to  be  softened  by  Thy  love  that  they  may  be 
illuminated  by  Thy  Wisdom,  and  so  humble  them- 
selves for  their  shortcomings  that  they  may  praise 
Thee  for  Thy  revelation;  through  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord.    Amen. 

For  the  Advancement  and  Perseverance  of 
the  Faithful. 

■yOUCHSAFE,  we  beseech  Thee,  O  Lord,  to 
''  strengthen  and  confirm  all  Thy  faithful  (espe- 
cially those  in  .  .  .  and  all  others  for  whom  we  are 
desired  to  pray),  and  to  lift  them  up  more  and  more 
continually  to  heavenly  desires;  through  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord.    Amen. 

For  a  Retreat. 

f\  LOED  Jesus  Christ,  who  didst  say  to  Thy  dis- 
^^  ciples.  Come  ye  apart  into  a  desert  place  and 
rest  awhile ;  Grant,  we  beseech  Thee,  to  Thy  servants 
now  gathered  together,  so  to  seek  Thee  whom  our 
souls  desire  to  love  that  we  may  both  find  Thee  and 
be  found  of  Thee.  And  grant  such  love  and  such 
wisdom  to  accompany  the  words  which  shall  be 
spoken  in  Thy  name  that  they  may  not  fall  to  the 
ground,  but  may  be  helpful  in  leading  us  onward 
through  the  toils  of  our  pilgrimage  to  that  rest 
which  remaineth,  where  nevertheless  they  rest  not 
day  nor  night  from  Thy  perfect  service;  who  livest 
and  reign  est,  God  for  ever  and  ever.     Amen. 


APPENDIX  139 

For  the  Conversion  of  Sinners  and  Awakening 
of  the  Listless. 

A  LMIGHTY  God,  we  beseech  Thee  to  hear  our 
•**•  prayers  for  such  as  sin  against  Thee,  or  neglect 
to  serve  Thee  (especially  those  in  .  .  .  and  others 
for  whom  our  prayers  are  desired),  that  Thou 
wouldst  vouchsafe  to  bestow  upon  them  true  repent- 
ance, and  an  earnest  longing  for  Thy  service; 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.    Amen. 

A   Daily  Prayer. 

r\  LOED  Jesus  Christ,  the  Great  Shepherd  of  the 
^^  sheep,  who  seekest  those  that  are  gone  astray, 
bindest  up  those  that  are  broken,  and  healest  those 
that  are  sick;  Bless,  we  beseech  Thee,  the  effort  now 
to  be  made  to  bring  souls  nearer  to  Thee.  Quicken 
by  Thy  Holy  Spirit  the  hearts  of  Thy  faithful  ones. 
Open  the  deaf  ears  of  the  wanderers,  that  they  may 
hear  the  words  which  belong  unto  their  salvation. 
Lead  to  repentance  those  who  are  living  in  sin;  and 
grant  that  those  whom  Thou  dost  raise  to  newness 
of  life  may  through  Thy  grace  persevere  unto  the 
end:  of  Thy  mercy,  who  livest  with  the  Father  and 
the  Holy  Ghost,  one  God  world  without  end.    Amen. 


